Sugar Rush War: Unwanted Codes
by Kati BookGirl
Summary: It's been a year now since Turbo has been taken down and Sugar Rush is at peace. However, a new threat slowly looms that puts the game in jeopardy. Can the racers survive this new threat? Or will a conflict divide them into two. The squeal to the Beyond Your Code series. Part 1.
1. Prologue

**Hey everyone, I'm back and I got a few surprises. First of all, I have a crossover planned for this summer so look forward to it. I'm sure it will keep you cool (hint right there).**

**Also, as some of you might have already know, I have a squeal for Beyond Your Code and here it is! Featuring in this are a few of my own OCs. But first of all, let's have a little introduction, starting with soon after the end of the first series...**

* * *

Four kids looked down on a ledge of Sugar Rush. They watched as the racers spend their first day of the arcade being themselves. They appeared to be truly happy. However, the kids that were watching looked down with resentment.

The group consisted of three girls and a boy. They were all different in appearance, but that had the same dark look in their eyes.

Finally, the leading girl had enough of this, she turned around, away from the scene, and ordered "Come on, let's summon him." She threw down a small red ring on the ground. It started to glow brighter until an astral project appeared.

It began to take shape until it took the form of Turbo in his regular racer form. He looked around fanatically as if he didn't know what was going on. "Wha-? What the? Where am I?" Then the racer realized something. "I'm alive... I'm alive!"

"Hooray for you, Turbo." said the leading girl.

Turbo soon took notice of the little group and his joy was replaced with nervousness. "Oh, it's you four. What pleasant surprise."

"Zip it!" The girl snapped. "Did you really think that code prison of yours was going to hold us forever?"

"Oh, yes, about that..." He paused, trying to think of an excuse. "I was just worried about your sake. If the gamers saw how powerful you were, they might complain and have you removed.

The girl and her friends were unamused. "Don't give us that chip." The girl's right hand started to glow. When she simply touched a near-by candy boulder with that hand, the boulder exploded into tiny bits. "We gave you another chance to redeem your former glory and you thank us by betraying us. I should delete you now, but that's not the case."

Turbo whimpered "So, what are you going to do to me?"

"Oh, Turbo, we have plans for this miserable game and the rest of the arcade. All we ask is for a little cooperation."

_Sugar Rush... a land of sugar and sweets... _

_It has been in peace since Turbo had been taken down..._

_However, in the middle of that sweetness... something sour is about to occur..._

* * *

**So who the heck are these mysterious strangers? What do they have planned? What the heck is going to happen to Sugar Rush and the rest of the arcade? Why am I asking these questions? **

**Find out more in Sugar Rush War. First chapter, coming soon.**


	2. Chapter 1 Another Great Day

It was another great afternoon after the arcade closed. The Sugar Rush racers were enjoying another roaster race.

The crowds back at the stands were cheering for their favorite racer. Ralph, Felix, and Calhoun were sitting and cheering in a stand President Vanellope had made for them. Sparkle stood with the saltwater taffy citizens, roaring for Candlehead's victory. Beard Papa just watched the screen as he sweep away any trash lying around, but still looked up at the screen and rooted for the racers every once in a while.

It had been a year since Sugar Rush had been saved from the horrible Turbo.

The racers never have felt so free before in their life. They were almost to the finish line.

Vanellope was at seventh place, but she crossed a sugar cube item and the announcer boom: "Get ready! It's a Super Sweet!" Using the opportunity, Vanellope focused all she could and teleported to the lead just in time before she crossed the finish line.

An announcer boomed. "FIRST PLACE, VANELLOPE VON SCHWEETZ!"

The crowd went wild as they cheered for her.

Rancis Fluggerbutter came in second and his best friend, Candlehead, came in after him.

"Nice job, Vanellope." Rancis complemented her.

"You didn't do so bad yourself, butter-butt." Vanellope responded as they did a high-five.

"Hey, kid," Ralph called out to her. "You were great out there."

"Ralph!" Vanellope came up to her Stinkbrain.

As the two were talking to each other, Rancis looked at his hand; Vanellope just touched it! Ever since the events of the Great Sugar Battle (the incident with Turbo and all the Cy-bugs), the peanutbutter cup boy had some serious feelings for their President.

Noticing this, Candlehead cheekily said to him "So, are you finally going to do it?"

The blissful expression on his face disappeared and became red with embarrassment. "Wha-? What are you talking about?"

"You know, when you finally ask Vanny out? Me and other racers have bets on if she's going to reject you or not."

Rancis became even more red. "Will you just stop?!" And using his telekinetic powers, he began picking up small rocks and throwing them at his her.

Candlehead went on fire and dodged the rocks while taunting "Rancis and Vanellope sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

The ones who saw this couldn't help but laugh a little. This included Vanellope and Ralph.

"Looks like they're getting along as great as usual." chuckled Ralph.

"Nah," disagreed Vanellope "If they are really getting along, then Candlehead will call Sparkle out."

Sure enough, Candlehead screeched "Sparkle! Help me!"

Her giant pet Cy-bug came down from the stand and roared at Rancis.

"Wah!" Rancis cried out and threw candy rocks at Sparkle. "Get back! Get back!"

"Remember, torment him, but don't eat him." Candlehead reminded her pet as it growled and took its step forward.

The crowd became hysterical as they watch Rancis get chased by a giant bug.

Vanellope recovered her laughter and said "I guess I better break things off before they get worse."

Just before she could do that, Sour Bill came up to her. "Madame President, here are the files needed."

Vanellope took the file from Sour Bill, looked at them, and nodded. "Thanks, Sour Bill, now all I need to do is tell them."

Getting a little curious, Ralph asked "So what's this about?"

Vanellope cringed a little. "Let's just say it's some game changing news..."

Ralph didn't like the way she answered. "Is it good news or bad news?"

"Well..." Vanny thought about it before answering. "It depends on how they're going to take it."

Meanwhile, from on top of a candy cane branch, a girl, the leader, spoke to her group. "Look at them, all happy in their sweet little world... Doesn't it make you wanna throw up?"

"I don't know..." answered another girl, sounding pretty reluctant. "They look like they're having a good time. Should we really do this?"

"Hey," the leader snapped at her, "don't get all soft on me. You know how I am with soft dim-witted candy."

"Yeah, but still..."

Another girl interrupted her. "Well, I for one am pretty darn determine. All I want to do is squash some jelly-head candies."

The only boy in the group added "That's the only thing you want to do."

"E'yup." The girl didn't deny it.

The leader spoke to the reluctant one. "Listen, we've been waiting for this for sixteen years. Are you really willing to just blow it all off?"

The girl thought about it, and shook her head "no," but had a slight frown on her.

The leader just smiled sinisterly, seeing that everyone was on her side.

Then someone called them. "Uh, hello? I've brought the information you wanted." It was Turbo, but he seemed rather nervous.

The four jumped off of the branch and landed on the ground. When that happened, a great aura of unease seemed to spread, demonstrating how powerful they were.

Turbo whimpered, he knew the consequences if he dared disobeyed them.

They all had their eyes on him that said no funny business. The leader demanded "So tell us."

Trembling, Turbo handed her what looked like to be a computer chip.

The leader took it from him and put it in an item she heard was called a "holo-caster." On it, projected a 3-D screen with data on it. The leader read it and said "This doesn't appear any different than the data you gave us last time."

Turbo tried to find an excuse. "Well, uh, if you look at the top right, you'll see some very interesting data."

The girl clicked on it and read it with disappointment. "It's not telling us anything we don't know." She laid her dark eyes on Turbo.

The grey racer chuckled "Well, that's... all I could find! Ha ha..." He felt nervousness and fear deep down because he had a bad feeling on what this girl and her group were going to do to him.

Fortunately for him, the girl just turn the holo-caster off and sighed "Looks, like we already obtained enough information."

"Well, you guys have been doing this for a year." Turbo pointed out, but the looks on the group's face told him they didn't want to hear it.

However, the girl did take the year's length into consideration. "Then I guess it's about time we make our move..."


	3. Chapter 2 Training

At the interior of the Great Peppermint tree another daily lesson session was taking place.

"Keep you focus, everyone." Rancis instructed Taffyta, Crumbelina, Adorabeelze, and Nougetsia.

The girls were standing in front of targets that were made from jawbreakers and bar candies. Rancis was instructing how to aim accurately and carefully. "Just focus on the target and nothing else. Ignore all your surroundings, only focus on the target, and-"

"Just let it go!" shouted Candlehead, impatient for some action.

When she jumped up, the others suddenly unleashed their attacks. Forces of ice, lighting, water, and a laser beam came towards the targets and resulted in an explosive reaction!

The girls seemed a little shock with what happened. Nougetsia coughed a little from the aftermath smoke. Rancis appeared disheveled. Candlehead just cheered "That was so awesome! See what you can do if you just let it out?"

Rancis groaned, he was used to Candlehead's cheeky ways, but that sometimes, she crossed the line for him. "The purpose of this training is keeping your powers in focus, not burst out like an over-sized firecracker." He reminded her with annoyance.

"So?" She replied with a grin. "They managed to hit the targets anyway, despite the big explosion afterwards."

"Let me repeat myself; the purpose is to aim the targets at an appropriate amount so they won't cause too much damage."

"But what fun would that be?" Candlehead replied with a pout.

"The idea is not to have fun, it's to keep your powers in control. Remember how out of control our powers were when we first got them?"

"Well, we got the hang of it didn't we?"

"You're dodging the point, Candle."

However, Candlehead wasn't willing to hear his nagging, so she decided to put some excitement. "Sparkle! Rancis is picking me!"

The Cy-bug that was waiting outside suddenly came into the tree, roaring.

The girls (save Candlehead) screamed and ran away went they saw him, but Sparkle only focused on Rancis.

"Not again!" The peanutbutter boy cried out as he ran away from the bug.

Beard Papa, who was watching the kids laughed. "They're getting along as great as usual!"

* * *

At another part of the tree, the Candy Pack: Snowanna, Jubileena, and Swizzle, were doing their own training.

"All right, keep you focus, Jubi..." Snowanna told her. "Just stay calm, build that energy inside you. Once you get it down... Release!"

Jubileena unleashed another forcefield, but it caused her friends to be hit by the aftershock. She apologized "Sorry."

Snowanna cleaned herself and replied "It's all right. By now, I'm used to them."

"Well, I'm completely fine with it." Swizzle declared with his image half clear.

"That's easy for you to say, you just went transparent." Snowanna scolded.

"I'm real sorry you guys." Jubileena repeated. "I thought I had it this time."

Jubileena could put up forcefields, but they only allowed her protection and reject everyone. However, on the Great Sugar Race, she managed to get herself and four other racers all under the same half dome. She didn't know how she did, but she was willing to recreate it again.

"Okay, let's try to recreate the scene again." suggested Snowanna.

"Yeah, for like the hundredth time already." muttered Swizzle.

Snowy ignored that and tried to help the best she could. "All right, now, close your eyes and take a deep breath... think back to that race... What happened back there that made you do it?"

Jubi did as instructed and tried to recall the event. "Let's see, I'm racing down the track, you guys were with me... Rancis, Candlehead, and Vanellope were in front... suddenly, I see they're in trouble. I wanted to help them... and then it happened right there."

"So, what triggered it?" Snowanna asked with a hopeful expression.

Jubi gave it some thought before answering. "... I have no clue."

"You're trying to hard." Stated Gloyd, who was watching them from the side. "You should just let it come to you. It's easier that way."

The cherry girl blushed a little and nodded her head as if she trusted what he said, but Snowanna just gave an annoyed look. "That's easy for you to say." The snowcone girl said back at him. "You don't train at all. You just sit back and watch the rest of us work hard."

Swizzle, taking Gloyd's side, pointed out "Well, his ability doesn't need much training anyway."

"One of the perks if having an easy power." Gloyd replied with a playful smirk. His power was that he could see the future at times. It really didn't need as much effort compare to making forcefields appear, according to him.

"Well maybe it won't be so easy." Snowanna began to lecture him. "One of these days you're going to suddenly gain images without warning and you'll have no idea what they mean."

Gloyd rolled his eyes, he had heard this scolding before. "Like that will ever happen." He walked out and pressed his hand against the edge of the tree.

Suddenly, something came through his head like a film reel showing screens way too quickly. However, he could make out the images that were going though his head.

_It was the interior of the Great Peppermint Tree, but it looked completely bare inside as if untouched. Then, someone entered the place, it was Candlehead._

_"__Whoa, check this place out." she said in awe. "Rancis, you have got to see this."_

_Sure enough, the peanutbutter boy entered as soon as she called. He didn't appear amused at first, but then his eyes widen as he got a good look around the place. "Whoa, what is this place?"_

_The cupcake girl shrugged. "I don't know, it must be some kind of hidden bonus level or something._

_Rancis rolled his eyes at his friend's lack of logic. "If this was a bonus level don't you think there would be some tracks in here or something?"_

_"__Maybe there are. You can't just judge things by looking at them, you know?"_

_The two of them examined the area and after a while, Rancis stated "You know, for an empty hallow tree its not bad place."_

_"__Yeah," Candlehead agreed "Maybe this could be our own secret hideout. You know, a place where we could practice our powers and stuff?"_

_Rancis thought about it and responded "That's not a bad idea. We just need a few furniture to make it more homey, a couple of jawbreakers to train with, and we're good to go."_

_Candlehead jumped up and cheered. "All right!" She went on fire._

_Rancis fell back out of shock and shouted "We're so using this place for training!"_

Then the image faded. Gloyd held his head for it ached a little. "What was that?" He thought. Usually his images would only be of the future, but that one felt like it was from the past. For a while, he wondered what it meant, but then shook it off like it was nothing.

* * *

**AN: More mysteries arrise. What does Gloyd's vision mean? What is the news Vanellope wants to tell Rancis and Candlehead? And I know you readers are dying to know who are four mysterious people are, but be patient. All will come to the clear soon.**


	4. Chapter 3 Vice President

Sour Bill soon entered the Peppermint Tree to see Rancis struggling against a giant Cy-bug. He wanted to ask what this was about, but decided not to and instead tell them what he came here for in the first place. He cleared his voice just to get them attention. That didn't appear successful as the kids ignored him.

"Let me handle this." Beard Papa told him and then whistled real loudly. That got everyone to settled down and pay attention.

Sour Bill then said his message, "Rancis Fluggerbutter and Candlehead, President Vanellope wants to meet you two at the castle right away."

Wondering what this was about, the two kids left the tree, got into their karts, and drove to the castle. Sparkle wanted to follow them, but one tap from Beard Papa told him to stay where he was.

* * *

Vanellope waited in throne room with anticipation and nervousness. She knew what she was going to tell them, she just didn't know who they were going to react.

Soon, her guests of honor entered the throne room.

"You wanted to see us, Vanny?" asked Rancis, curious on what this was all about. Candlehead looked just as interested as him.

"Yes, I did." The fair President took a deep breath, and explained to them, "You two have done so much for this game, especially during the Great Sugar Battle."

Rancis and Candlehead felt themselves swell up in pride. The Great Sugar Battle made them complete celebrities in not only Sugar Rush, but the entire arcade.

Vanellope continued "So, in recognition of your valiant efforts, I'm opening a Vice President position!"

The kids were silent at first with their eyes wide. Then they burst with joy.

"Vice President!" cheered Candlehead.

"Now that's a title!" agreed Rancis.

They were so excited, they lost control of their powers for a moment. Candlehead went on fire and Rancis ended up making all the furniture in the room float.

Vanellope watched as they rejoice, and then took another deep breath; now came the bomb. "However, I can't have _both_ of you as Vice President."

That stopped the kid's excitement dead cold. "What?" Candle's fire was out and all the furniture went back to the ground.

"There's only one Vice President position. I can't have two or else everyone would be expecting me to do the same thing for President."

Rancis and Candlehead looked at each other. They were both given the chance for such and important position, but only one of them can take it.

Rancis first asked "So... What do you us to do?"

Vanellope sighed, she didn't like the idea any better. "I want you guys to talk it out for a while, decide which one of you fits the position, and if you guys can't come to a decision, then I'll start an election. Just... take your time." Then with a heavy heart, she left the room with Sour Bill behind her; leaving the two alone.

The kids looked at each other. They faced many difficult decisions in their lives, but this one took the cake. Should one of them give up for this one? Truth be told, neither of them thought they should lose this opportunity.

* * *

Hiding from behind a window and sitting down on the frame was a lone girl. She had heard and saw everything.

"Vice President..." She muttered "Humph. It won't matter anyway. Soon, I'll be the queen of them all..."

* * *

**AN: The next chapter, finally the introduction of our four mystery characters.**


	5. Chapter 4 Unexpected Meetings

**AN: Now what you've all been waiting for: the introduction of my new characters! Those of you who have read my _Servers _fanfic might recognize one of them. Tell me what you think of them, but no flames.**

* * *

After training, the Candy Pack decided to spend the rest of the night at the Wheelhouse Club... or at least, Snowanna wanted to. She danced like nothing else mattered. Swizzle and Jubileena were hanging back at the bar, drinking root beer.

At one point, Jubileena asked "So... Swizz?"

"What is it?" He responded as he finished his drink.

"Do you think me and Gloyd might have a chance?"

That caused Swizzle to spit his drink out in shock. "You... and Gloyd?"

"Well, yeah."

Swizzle was speechless for a while before he came up with a response. "Why would you ask me that?"

"I don't know... I remembered you two were close; so I thought if anyone knew, it was you."

"Well, if you're so willing to be with him, why don't you ask him yourself?"

"Then why don't you ask Candlehead out?"

He nearly spitted out his drink again. "Wha- me and Candlehead? Where did you get that idea?"

"I've seen how you've been acting near her lately. Why can't you admit you just have feelings for the walking cupcake?"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Don't lie, I remember you blushing last week when she bumped into you."

"T-that was just a coincidence!"

Snowanna rolled her eyes as she heard her friends argue. "There they go again..." She thought with annoyance. "Gee, thank goodness I'm not romantically involve with anybody."

She did a spin in midair, but her landing was a little off causing her to trip and fall down. However, instead of hitting the floor someone caught her.

She lifted up her head to see a boy she had never seen before. He had perfectly cooked tan skin, short curly black hair, and dreamy brown eyes. He wore sneakers, navy blue jeans, a crimson red plaid shirt along with a white undershirt, and a yellow cap. "Hello, there." He greeted her with a suave voice.

"Oh, hello..." She said with definite interest.

He helped her back on her feet and greeted. "I'm Carter Coco-Cola."

"Snowanna Rainbeau." She replied with bashful smile.

"So what's a fine girl like you doing here?"

"Uh, just dancing, you know, having a good time."

"That's strange, I was here doing the same thing."

Then right on cue, the next song started to play.

"Would you like to share this dance with me?" Asked Carter, holding out his hand.

Snowanna held on to it as she answered "Sure."

The slow music got the couples in the room to dance together.

Snowanna could help but look at this guy in the eye as they danced around in a circle. While she was in trance, she started to glow a little a float up.

When she realized what she was doing, she immediately got back down. "Sorry..." She said, blushing a bit. "You can't fly, can you?"

Carter gave her a simple smile. "Don't worry, I might not glow..." A pair of golden yellow wings appeared from his back. "But I can fly."

The snowcone racer blushed even more as she started to glow and started to dance with him in midair.

Swizzle and Jubileena took good notice of the couple.

"Well, well... look at that." Pointed out Swizzle.

"It looks like the snowcone has finally found her perfect match." Observed Jubi.

* * *

Meanwhile, at another part of Sugar Rush...

"You're dead, Orangeboar!" screeched Taffyta. She, Minty, Crumbelina, and Adorabeezle were chasing after him with their hair splattered with sticky syrup.

The pumpkin boy ran laughing. That was his best prank yet! However, he still needed to get away from the unfortunate victims who were out to break him in half.

Soon, Gloyd spotted a candy cane tree and began to climb to the highest branch he could. The girls surround the tree at the base.

"You better get down here at once!" threatened Taffyta as she and the girls glared up the tree like a bunch of angry dogs.

He only replied with a raspberry. It was hard to be scared of them when they looked so silly with his hairs full of candy the syrup had collected

"Fine! Then we'll come up for you!" However, before she could even get the chance, something unexpected happened.

The branch that Gloyd was standing under suddenly flicked like a whip causing him to fly up into the sky, and when he fell the branch caught him by wrapping around his ankle.

The girls laughed when they saw how dumb struck he looked, but then became annoyed when another branch flickered, only this time it hurled small candy leaves at them that got stuck in their hair.

Gloyd was trying to process what was going on when a cheerful upbeat western voice said "Ye-hah! Now that's how you pull a prank!"

He looked to his right to see a girl with wheat-colored blond hair tied in a ponytail and a cowboy hat on top. She had light creme colored skin with freckles all over her face, and big brown eyes. She wore a brownish-orange shirt, a brown skirt, and cowboy boots.

On her face as a bright fun-loving smile. "Howdy, my name's Apple Cake."

Gloyd was speechless when he saw her, but then managed to utter out a few words. "Uh, Gloyd Orangeboar."

After he introduced himself, the branch settled him down on the one Apple was.

"I don't know what you did, but it must have been impressive for you to get four girls sticky." Complemented Apple.

Gloyd blushed. "Well, I don't mean to brag or nothing..."

Then Apple smiled cheekily with that mischievous look in her eyes. "But do you know what would make a prank even better?"

"No what?"

"You follow it up with another prank!" With that, another branch flickered, causing a ton of candies to hurl at the girls.

Humiliated with their hairs full of sticky candy, the girls ran. Taffyta wanted to laser beam them, but her hair came first. "You'll pay for this!" She shouted as she ran with the others.

Gloyd and his new friend laughed as they fled. Once they recovered, he asked "So is that your superpower? The thing you did with the candy branches?"

Apple nodded. "And it's not just candy cane branches. I can control any candy plants." To demonstrate, a black licorice vine appeared in her hand. On the end was a small orange bud that bloomed into a yellow candy flower. Then she asked "What about yours?"

"Oh, well, I can see the future." He told her with pride. However, to his surprise, she only snickered.

"That's your power? Lame."

"It's not lame." Gloyd said back, feeling a little offended. "I'm able to guess even where the Sweet Seekers will hit."

"Yeah right." Apple didn't sound like she believed him. She jumped off the branch and landed on the ground. She flashed him a sweet smirk before leaving. "Next time, tell me something about you that's a little more interesting."

Gloyd watch her as she left with mixed feelings about her.

* * *

"Why do I always do this...?" The girl thought to herself as she looked in the reflection of a broken windshield.

She could see her scruffy brown hair and dull gray eyes. Her milky face was full of freckles. She wore a black coat that covered her skirt and shirt; only revealing her orange striped socks and black shoes.

She looked at every point of herself. "Look at me, I look as fine as ever and yet, every time, I just want to..."

Her appearance started to change. Her hair became straight silvery white with a pinch of blue in the shade, the freckles on her face disappeared, and her outfit changed to a pure white dress. The only thing that didn't changed were her sad gray eyes.

"Why do I always want to hide?" She whispered sadly.

Then her superior interrupted her train of thought. "Hey, Ginger Snaps-." She stopped when she noticed her appearance. "A new disguise for the start of our plan? What are you going to call yourself this time?"

Ginger thought about it for a while, and then answered "Crysalia Candia, because it sounds so lovely."

The girl rolled her eyes as if thinking this was typical. "That's just fine. Now get out there and meet the other racers or something. That's part of the plan, remember?"

"Where are you going?"

"That's easy, I'm going to the castle."

* * *

Vanellope sighed heavily and looked over Sugar Rush on the balcony. It was great now that she got that burden off her hands for the moment, but now it was just coming back to haunt her.

She turned to Sour Bill who was there with her. "Is it really necessary to have only _one_ Vice President?" She asked again.

"I'm afraid you have to." As if suspecting this, the gumdrop pulled out a scroll and read "At any position at all, regarding the leadership position in Sugar Rush, only one person can assume the place. No ifs, ands, or buts."

Vanellope frowned, she thought the rule was unfair. "I can't see why we can't have them both as Vice Presidents."

"I can't be done." Sour Bill tried to reason with her. "We don't want everyone suddenly demanding to become the second President or some other grand position. It's for the good of the game."

"I guess..." She muttered, trying to agree.

Then Wynchell and Duncan entered the area with some news. "Your Presidency, there's someone waiting at the door."

"Who is it?"

"We don't know, it's someone we've never seen before."

That got Vanellope's complete attention, and she hurried to the door with Sour Bill tagging along to see who this stranger is.

She one more in front had long jet black hair that had a variety of sprinkles and candies spread all over her although it was covered by a teal covered cap. She wore a pink jacket, teal shirt, matching pink pants, and sneakers. However, the President nearly fainted when she saw the face, the girl in front had a face quite similar to her.

Vanellope asked "Who are you?"

The girl in front smile, revealing she even had the gapped tooth. "My name is Canderine Treatz. I'm new to Sugar Rush. It's so nice to meet you."

* * *

**AN: Acting all friendly towards the racers? What could these four be planning?**

**Also, here are the powers of the four incase it wasn't clear:**

**Carter Coco-Cola: Wings**

**Apple Cake: Control candy plants**

**Ginger Snaps/Crysalia Candia: shapeshifter**

**Canderine Treatz: (actually, that one's going to remain a secret for now.)**


	6. Chapter 5 New Feelings and Plans

Vanellope eyed Canderine with suspicion. "New here? When did Litwack program you in?"

Canderine responded with a sincere smile. "He actually plugged me in quite recently, a few minutes ago. Didn't you hear?"

Vanellope didn't look convince and neither did Sour Bill. Normally when new programming is added into the game, an alarm will go off or the game will glitch for a moment.

Canderine could see that. "I know it's unexpected, but you can trust me, I'm a hundred present a part of this game. If you don't believe me, then check the code room."

The president was still uncertain about this, but Canderine looked so friendly, she started to doubt herself. "Well, then... Welcome to Sugar Rush. I'm President Vanellope Von Schweetz."

The new racer smiled sweetly as she shook her hand. "Oh, I already know you. Everyone who is programmed in Sugar Rush knows who you are, Vanellope. Anyway, I was wondering if I could have a tour, starting with the castle."

That got Vanellope's guard up again. Although girl seemed nice, something didn't seem right. Especially since the castle has the only entrance to the game's life source. Because of it, she didn't trust anyone she didn't know to go inside the castle since the last guy who messed with the code room ended up turning her into a glitch and sealing away everyone's powers. "Uh, look, you're a nice person and all, but why don't we start the tour a little later. The arcade's going to open soon anyway."

"I understand." Canderine responded. She didn't seem to be bothered by it. "So I'll see you at the Random Roaster Race then?"

Vanellope was about to ask how she knew about that, but then realized it was probably programed into her as well. "Yeah, I'll see you there." Then went back into the castle.

"Find out whatever you can about this girl. Check the code room if you have to." Vanellope told Sour Bill as she prepared herself for opening hour.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Great Peppermint Tree, Rancis and Candlehead were clearing the area for the next time. Sparkle was waiting outside. They haven't spoken to each other for a while now.

Eventually, Candlehead finally spoke, "So... Vice President? Pretty big position huh?"

Rancis reluctantly responded "Yeah, it's pretty big."

Then she asked the dread question. "So, which one of us do you think deserves the place?"

Awkward silence filled the area before the peanutbutter cup boy answered "Well, I for one think I should take it. I mean, I am the thinker out of the two."

Candlehead responded "I don't know. I think I should have it."

"Oh come on!" Rancis couldn't help but uttered out. "You're rash, you always get into trouble, and half the time, you're more concern about your stupid pet bug than your fellow citizens."

The cupcake girl seemed a little hurt when he said that, but didn't say anything back.

"Besides, it's for the better." He concluded.

"Yet for the better..." Candlehead muttered bitterly. If truth speaks for itself, she really did think she deserve the seat.

* * *

On the other side of the forest, far away from the Great Peppermint Tree and where more black licorice crows took the skies, Canderine had left the front door of the castle to this area to meet with a certain group.

Carter, Apple, Ginger (still in her disguise), and a trembling Turbo were all waiting for her.

"So, she didn't trust you?" said Carter with a cocky smirk.

"You shut it!" Canderine snapped at him. "It doesn't matter anyway since we aren't going to rush things. It was worth the shot anyway." She fumed for a while and then asked "So you guys already have some data?"

"Already have them." Replied Apple as she and Carter lifted out something that was hidden in their pockets. It looked like a long thin hard drive system with the numbers, 20% or 15% on them.

Canderine turned to Ginger. "How about you?"

The girl sadly pulled out hers. The screen on her hard drive had a blank 0. "I haven't bumped into anyone yet." She told her.

Canderine glared like a snake looking down on a chipmunk, but didn't do anything against the girl except harshly replied "Well, you better start meeting new people soon."

"So how long are we going to do this?" asked Apple "I want to whack the dopiness out of some of these losers."

Carter shrugged. "I'm pretty determine too, but I wouldn't mind waiting it out for a bit longer."

Apple scoffed "That's easy for you to say, you picked up a girl."

"Hey, don't get any ideas." He said back at her. "It's not like I'm serious with her or anything!"

Canderine rolled her eyes, and then declared "Whatever, this isn't a set back or anything. We just to be a bit more careful." She held out her hard drive that only had 5% on it. "Come on," She then ordered "We got to prepare ourselves for a race."

Turbo finally spoke up "W-w-wait, what about me?" However one glare for the kids told him he should keep quiet.


	7. Chapter 6 An Interesting Race

Eventually, the arcade came to a close and another Random Roaster Race was ready to roll. Vanellope already had enough trouble with having to deal with a stranger, but looking at the other racers, it appeared she had more to deal with.

Snowanna was being talkative, and way more than usual much to annoyance of her friends. Gloyd looked like he was conflicted with something, and Rancis and Candlehead were being cold towards each other.

Sour Bill arrive with some news. "The pastry police have checked the code room and sure enough, there's a code box by the name of 'Canderine.' However, they were unable to find anymore information about the girl."

Vanellope thought about this for a moment, but before she could respond. She heard the sound of karts coming in from the distance.

Four karts that no one had ever seen before appeared on the track. One of them was made of dark chocolate with two Cs implanted on the side of it in white frosting. Another one was pie shaped, like Jubileena's Cherriot, only it had apple filling and the smell of cinnamon was strong from it. The third one was a crystal candy kart shaped like the old royal kart with the numbers 00 engraved on it. Then finally, the last kart appeared to be a mix between Vanellope's current Candy Kart and Taffyta's Pink Lighting: it had the shape of a Ferrari and yet it was decorated with all sorts of candy decorations.

The four racers came out of it. The president immediately recognized one of them as Canderine.

Snowanna's eyes lit up when she saw them. "Hi, Carter!" She greeted in an overly cheerful voice.

The new boy turned to her and politely waved with a smirk to which she giggled as a reply.

"Apple?" Gloyd asked to make sure he was seeing the same person.

"That's me." The cowgirl said with a playful grin. "I am one slick racer with a need for speed. Ye'hah!"

Jubileena stared at Gloyd talking to this girl she had never seen before and her eye started to twitch. "Who does that girl think she is?" She thought bitterly.

Swizzle took notice of this. "Uh, Jubi? Are you okay?"

She turned to him, but her eye was still twitching. "Yeah, I'm just fine."

Vanellope took notice of the one lone racer who was just pacing herself away from the others. She wanted to go and talk to her, but was immediately distracted by Canderine, who introduced the gang. "These are my friends: Carter Coco-Cola, Apple Cake, and... Crysalia Candia. We all hope to be such good friends with you guys. Right?"

"You bet." Replied Carter.

"E'yup." Answered Apple.

Crysalia didn't say anything at first, but then she nodded her head and said "Yes, we all are."

Vanellope stared at this guys with uncertainty; she couldn't shake off the feeling of unease.

Sour Bill whispered to her, "I won't let them on the track so easy." He didn't trust them either.

Vanellope looked at her fellow racers for some advice.

"You should so let Carter and his friends race." Snowanna said; only focusing her attention on him. "He's a really, really cool guy." There were hearts in her eyes.

"I think Apple and her friends should get a chance at least." Gloyd answered bashfully.

The other racers didn't show any signs of disapproval either.

"I think they deserve a chance. They're new here after all." Said Crumbelina.

"We should at least let them race once." Agreed Adorabeezle.

"I don't see the harm." Replied Swizzle.

"It doesn't matter to me." Said Taffyta with confidence. "I can beat anyone anytime."

Rancis and Candlehead seemed too focused on themselves to say anything.

Vanellope thought about it for a moment, and then decided "I guess we should see what you guys can do on the track. Now, get into your karts, newbies. We got a race to do."

Nobody noticed the sinister smirk on Canderine's face. "Sure thing..." She and her group got into their karts.

* * *

The racers were ready, the citizens were cheering, Ralph and the other outside-of the-game residents took their seat; Sparkle flew up and joined them, and then countdown began...3...2...1... Go!

The karts drove on ahead with a strong start as they headed into Gumball Canyon.

Carter drove into an item and the announcer shouted "Get ready! It's a Super Sweet!"

The new guy chuckled as he pressed the pedal and two giant wings appeared on the side of his kart. The Soda Pop kart flew high above the racers and the gumball obstacles and landed on the next track.

"So cool..." Snowanna muttered as she watched him go; not paying attention to the gumball that soon knocked her out.

The next area was the Cakeway where Jubileena's Cherriot was just behind Apple's Sweet Pie. "There's no way I'm losing to _her _to all people." She thought to herself and pressed the pedal to pass her. "Yes!" She muttered with triumph.

However, she didn't notice Apple pass by a Super Sweet item, activating her ability and the ground started shaking. Suddenly, giant candy plant roots came bursting from the ground and flicked Jubileena right off the track!

The cherry girl landed safely in a pile of whip cream, but her ego was still pretty whacked up.

Once the remaining racers made the jump to the next part of the track, they continued into the candy forest.

Crysalia in her Shining Crystal was just at the back of the crowd. Her mind was still in a bit of a conflict. Still, she somehow managed to cross over that special Sugar Cube item. She pressed the item pedal and her body and kart started to change shape.

She looked exactly like Taffyta in the Pink Lighting.

Some of the racers looked back in shock, but then were soon met by a huge laser beam, much similar to Taffyta's Super Sweet ability. The ones that got hit were Crumbelina, Swizzle, Adorabeelze, Taffyta, and the recolors.

The racers safely landed in a cupcake and then turned to the shapeshifter in shock, but quickly they recovered from their attack, Crysalia was back to her "original" form.

* * *

The racers (Vanellope, Rancis, Candlehead, and Canderine) soon headed into the Frosty Rally with everyone else behind them.

Vanellope was right in front while Rancis and Candlehead were neck to neck at second place.

Rancis focused on the race, but Candlehead had other plans in mind. She still believed that she should be the vice president, and wasn't going let him take it of all people take it from her. So, she pressed the pedal and speed up.

Noticing this and not wanting to be outdone, Rancis went a little faster.

However, that just made Candlehead a little more irritated as she boasted up her speed, and he did the same thing.

Eventually, it got to the point when the kids start to really compete against each other up to the point where they were even smashing into each other just to slow the other down.

No one notice Canderine's Acer Sweet go right into a certain Sugar Cube. Then with a smirk, she let her ability run free.

Vanellope, Rancis, and Candlehead got the glimpse of a bright light coming from right behind them, but that was all they could remember before they were completely knocked right out of the track!

* * *

The crowd back at finish line got a better view of what happened. They gasped in horror when they saw a blast that resembled an atomic explosion and the screen turned blank.

"Kids!" Ralph shouted out in worry and he ran out of the stands and on to the race track to their direction. Felix and Calhoun looked at each other and then followed after him. Sparkle screeched in fear and flew up to follow as well.

Beard Papa watch them go and only look with a worried expression.

* * *

Only four karts drove out of the cave in tact.

Canderine came out first with the others right behind her.

"Woo!" shouted Carter as he drove up to her. "That was awesome, Canderine!"

"And you didn't even use half of your true power." Added Apple, also impressed.

"Of course." Replied Canderine, with that signature smirk, and with that, she and the others zoomed off.

* * *

Wreck-it Ralph came into the cave in a hurry. "Kids!" He cried out as he searched the cave.

The scene looked devastating. The track had been completely torn off with boulders of all size surround them.

In a panic, Ralph smashed the boulders as he looked around. Sparkle flew into the cave and did the same thing except he crunched some of the rocks.

Fortunately, Ralph soon found the three racers. They were bruised and the back of their karts were burned off, but they were all right.

"Are you guys all right?" The wrecker asked as he helped get them out.

Vanellope recovered from her impact, coughed a little, and responded. "Yeah... I'm fine." However, her thoughts asked "What the heck was that?" She was just in shock with what happened.

Felix looked at the damaged karts and declared "Don't worry, I can fix it!"

"Is everyone in tact?" asked Calhoun as she helped Rancis out.

"Uh... Yeah, I think so." He replied.

Sparkle came up to Candlehead and purred in worry.

"Don't worry, Sparkle." The cupcake girl replied as she petted him. "I'm just fine."

As the marshmallow referees came down to Rancis and Candlehead glared at each other as if blaming for what happened, but there was nothing more to be said


	8. Chapter 7 Confrontation

The race ended with only Canderine and her groupie crossing the finish. Everyone else couldn't finish the race because of the gap in the track cause by the big blast.

Several of the fans cheered politely for the new racers, but the rest were muttering in concern.

The racers, on the other hand, had mixed expressions of concern and confusion. They were now really worried about what happened on the track, mainly with that big explosion. They weren't even sure if they even want these new characters on the track again.

However, Vanellope remembered how it felt to be left out of the racers. She didn't not want them to face that because they were just added in. Besides, they looked pretty happy.

She still had her concerns though and asked Canderine for a talk the arcade opens.

The rest of the roaster board got filled with the racers of the last race and the everyone was then free to do whatever they wanted.

Wreck-it Ralph took Vanellope aside for one warning. "I think you should watch yourself with these kids. If they're that powerful, there's no telling what will happen."

"I know that, Gah-DOI, but don't worry. We're a bunch of racers with super powers remember?" The spunky president assured him.

Ralph knew she was right, but still felt worried. "Just be careful, okay?"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." She assured one last time before he, Felix, and Calhoun returned to their games.

At the Speedway, some of the more polite citizens and serval of the racers came up to the four winners.

"That was amazing, Carter!" Declared Snowanna as she came up to him with admiration.

He turned to her with a smug smirk. "I guess I was." He put his finger underneath her chin. "Say, do you want to go dancing afterwards?"

"Why, I would love to." She replied as they left arm in arm.

Swizzle called out to remind her. "Hey, Sno, we're suppose to train at the Tree after the race!"

However, she seemed to pay no attention to him.

The Unicorn Pop racer sighed with annoyance. He'll admit he thought it was cool that Snowanna found someone she liked, but now it was just getting irritating, especially when she went on and off on what an amazing guy he was earlier. "Man, I hope this is only a phase." He muttered "Don't you agree, Jubi?"

However, Jubileena didn't pay attention to him, but she rather she looking at Gloyd who was talking to Apple again.

"Uh, hey, Apple?" He asked her with his hand behind his back and face flushing.

"Yeah?" She replied a grin.

"Well, I was wondering if you would like to hang out right now?"

She giggled a bit before responding. "You sure about that? I bet your future might not be so bright."

"Maybe it will?" He cockily told her. "I can see the future, remember?"

Apple gave it thought and replied "All right then, but I like my fun to be wild."

"So, do you have any plans for the rest of the day?"

"Well, there is some I want to try at the candy corn fields." She told him as they went on their way.

Jubileena watched them as they went off. She couldn't help but fume and twitch.

"Uh, are you sure you're okay?" When Swizzle asked that, he backed away in case Jubi did some drastic.

Jubi took a deep breath. "I'm just fine."

She sounded a bit calmer than last time, so Swizz let his guard down only to get hit by the aftershock of a forcefield.

* * *

Ginger tried to enjoy the cheers, but deep down she couldn't shake away the bad feelings. After all, she knew the fate of all these characters once they were done with it.

That didn't mean she didn't feel anything good. It felt rather warm hearing some praise from the candy citizens. Although, she knew this won't be permanent.

Not willing to stay, she went into her Shining Crystal and drove off before anyone could stop her.

"So what do you want to talk about, Prez?" asked Canderine when they were alone.

Vanellope started to explain. "Look, it's about that power of yours. I understand it's a part of you and all, but it's kind of… devastating."

The new girl sighed as if she expected this. "I know, my friends keep on telling me to keep it down, but I just can't help myself. I always end up destroying more than I need to." She sighed again. "It's such a hassle."

Vanellope heard her and suggested "You know, if you have any problems controlling that power, then why don't you come to the Great Candy Tree? We host training sessions there, daily."

Canderine rubbed her chin as if thinking about it. Then responded "I guess I can join these training sessions. Oh, and I'll suggest my friends to come along. Is that okay?"

"Sure, more the merrier."

"Great!" Canderine then hopped into her kart to show it was the end of the conversation, but Vanellope had one last important thing to say:

"Just watch your power, okay? Training might help, but I think it's best if you watch it. We won't want another blast like that, it could damage the game."

Canderine gave a smile. "You're right, we won't want that." She then started up her kart and left. She was going to find Turbo at their hiding spot when she heard shouting.

She pressed the breaks and went over a small hill to see Rancis and Candlehead arguing…

* * *

A few minutes ago…

Rancis and Candlehead were helping Beard Papa with finding recyclable parts for the kart repair shop. Also, Sparkle was there to clear away all some of the junk.

The two haven't spoken to each other and now the mood between them was even more tense. They even had their backs turned against each other

Finally, Candlehead spoke. "That was some race today, wasn't it?"

Rancis reluctantly responded "Yeah, it was." He didn't really want to talk with him.

"Too bad that we didn't cross that finish line because of that blast."

"Yeah, but I bet I could've out run that." He couldn't keep the scorn out of his voice.

"Oh really?" She replied with sarcasm.

"Yeah, if a _certain someone_ didn't get in my way."

Candlehead now turned to him with a resentful glare. "And what is that suppose to mean."

"Well, you were the one who choose to pick a fight with me. What was that all about anyway?"

"I don't know. Maybe I was getting sick and tired of someone acting all high and mighty and thinking _he _deserves to be something big like_ vice president_!"

Rancis didn't turn around, but he controlled a small piece of scrap to hit her. "Like you can take the position any better."

"I bet…"

"Look, it's better if I took that position-."

"Just so you can satisfied your stupid ego?! Face, it Fluggerbutter, I make a much more better vice president than you! I'm the one who took down Turbo."

"No, I'm the one. I threw you remember? You just went on fire."

"Like you would know what to do without your telekinetic powers!"

"I could say the same thing about your fire powers and stupid giant bug!"

"Sparkle's not stupid!" Candlehead shouted back just when the Cy-bug came down to agree with her and snarled at Rancis. However, Candlehead petted him to let him know this isn't his fight, but she wasn't done. "I'm sick and tired of doing things for your worthless support! I can be a better vice president than you!"

Now Rancis turned to her bitterly. "Like an airhead like you would have a chance at the shot! I'm ten times better!"

"Oh yeah!" Shouted Candlehead as she went up in furious red flame.

"Yeah!" Rancis shouted as a giant abandon kart was lifted into the air.

It looked like the situation was going to get ugly when Beard Papa suddenly interrupted them. "Settle down! Both of you!"

Candlehead's fire slowly went out and Rancis' mind put the kart down.

Beard Papa looked deep within their eyes. He had seen them get mad at each other over the stupidest things, but this was different. He sighed and did the only thing he could do. "Look, I don't know what this is about, but we've been over this a thousand times. Getting worked up in your emotions doesn't solve a think. It's better just to talk it out and let go naturally."

Candlehead took a deep breath. She seemed calmer, but then said in a stern voice. "You're right Beard Papa. We should do things naturally. Like when I naturally become vice president."

"You mean, when I become vice president." Rancis said back.

"In your dreams."

Beard Papa held up his broom to demonstrate he's not afraid to use this. "Just… calm down for now. Nothing good will happen if all you do is fight."

Neither of them heard that last message.

"Sure fine…" Muttered Rancis as he walked away.

"He'll regret it later…" grumbled Candlehead as she and Sparkle went the other direction.

Beard Papa didn't know what to do.

* * *

Meanwhile, Canderine had heard everything and couldn't help but laugh. She had to be silent though or else the old man will hear her.

After she recovered for her chuckles. She thought to herself. "So now it's a debate for Vice President huh? I could use that."

* * *

**AN: Looks like the tension between Rancis and Candlehead is about to get tense. What is Canderine planning now? Find out in the next chapter.**


	9. Chapter 8 Enigma

**AN: I will be referring Ginger as Crysalia to show that she's still in her disguise.**

* * *

Deep within the Black Licorice Woods stood a lone treehouse in the middle of the forest. The Acer Sweet parked right underneath that house right next to the one other kart.

Canderine got out of the kart, went up the tree, and into the treehouse.

"To think this place would still be here after all these years." She thought to herself. "Then again, nobody bothers to take notice." This was their hideout where they would rest and plan out with some privacy.

She got inside to see Turbo standing in front of a couple of holographic screens that were floating in the air. Ginger (still in her Crysalia disguise)was there with him.

"How's he doing?" She immediately demanded.

The shapeshifter shrugged. "He's been going over that data once or twice now. I can't tell if he's really working or just distracting us."

"I-I almost have it!" Turbo sputtered nervously. "Just give me a little more time."

"It's been a year." Canderine sternly reminded him.

"Oh, right. Uh, well, I have something planned already."

"Oh really? It's not another disappointment is it?" Canderine's left hand started to glow.

Turbo gulped; he knew what will happen if he disappointed her. So with a trembling hand, he handed her a hard drive.

She took it from him and went to a box that had a digitized locked design. Her hand stopped glowing. She picked up that box and put the hard drive against it. It began to glow with bright blue and clicking sounds could be heard from it. That might mean the code is successful.

Suddenly, the lights became solid red and a long beep came from it. A streak of blue lighting zapped the hard drive and it disintegrated to ashes.

Crysalia stared, unamused and unmoved at the result.

Turbo flinched in fear.

Canderine turned around in disappointment. "Well, well, another failure." She put down the box, took a step towards Turbo with her hand glowing again.

Turbo panicked as he tried to find an excuse. "I guess I made a mistake or something. Let me double check on it." That didn't seem to work for the girl only walk towards him with a glare in her eye. He blabbered whatever he thought would help. "Uh, I can make a better one. Honest, I swear to do it! You don't need to get so huffed over one failure… Even thought I've failed more than once now. I promise I'll get the code right next time."

However, that seemed more hopeless as the girl stepped forward and then held her hand back.

The poor racer thought he was finally going to get it when she swung at him, but instead she pounded at the wall not too far from him. It cracked and burst into a giant hole.

After doing that, Canderine seemed to be in a calmer mood but her glare was still dark and deep. "Very well then, I'll give you one last chance, but that is it. So you better get it right _or else_."

"Y-y-yes, I'll get it right." Turbo told her with a salute and his knees quivering.

Then Canderine turned to Crysalia. "Why aren't you out there?"

Crysalia didn't show any signs of nervousness, but didn't look at her in the eye. "I just don't feel like it."

The assorted candy girl came up to her and snatched her by there wrist where the hard drive was in her hand. On it, it said 1%.

Canderine glared at her. "You see this? This needs to be at a hundred percent in order to work. You don't want this plan to fail, do you? You know what's at stake."

Crysalia didn't say anything for a while, and then she responded "I don't want this plan to fail."

"Then start by coming with me."

"Where are we going?"

"We're going to find Apple and Carter first. I have an addition to the plan."

* * *

Vanellope walked back and forth in the throne room. Her mind was still on Canderine. She felt bad feeling like this, but she knew there was something very wrong.

Pretty soon, Sour Bill walked into the throne room. "Well?" She asked, hoping for some more news.

The sour gumdrop sighed. "The police are unable to find any information on Canderine Treatz. She's a total enigma."

"Okay, then what about her three friends: Carter, Apple, and Crysalia?"

"No information about them either except Carter enjoys rap music and break dancing, Apple loves anything to do with cowboys, and Crysalia…" He paused for a moment as he thought about it. "Actually, she's a total enigma too."

Vanellope's mouth nearly dropped. "That's it?"

Sour Bill shrugged. "That's it."

The President thought about this for a moment, and then decided to head behind the curtain and into the code room. She hardly ever went in here since she knew how fragile it all was. One slip of a code box and someone might turn into a glitch or worse.

However, if she wanted to confirmed that Canderine is not really a threat, then weren't really much choices left.

"Hold this for me, Sour Bill." She told him as she handed him one end of the licorice rope.

The gum ball sighed as he did so; it wasn't like he hasn't done this before.

After taking a deep breath, she jumped off. She started floating in the big space and towards the code boxes. "Where did the police say they found her code box?" She called out.

"Straight ahead!" Sour Bill responded, "but a little to your left!"

Vanellope followed his instructions and sure enough there were four floating code boxes. Sure enough, one of them said "Canderine," but that didn't help her relax because she noticed that there was no last name. Still it was a stable code box and it didn't look corrupted or anything.

"Maybe, I'm overreacting…" She thought to herself. After all, Canderine seemed to be a really sweet person.

Still, she had to check on the other boxes just to be sure.

"Let's see, Carter Coco-Cola, Apple Cake, and… Ginger Snaps?" She checked the box again to make sure.

Wasn't Canderine's third friend named Crysalia Candia? Now she was getting suspicious again. She had to check on this at once.

"Sour Bill, summon Crysalia here." She called out as she headed her way back…

And as she did, she didn't notice Canderine's box glitch… For a while it looked like she had another name beneath her first one, and then it stopped showing only her first name.


	10. Chapter 9 Gloyd's Vision

At the Candycorn Fields, Gloyd was waiting by a just recently built fence that was made of candy cane branches, candy corn stalks, and different candies he and Apple had found held together by molasses. Normally, he would enjoy a crazy idea, but this one seemed completely insane.

Apple had volunteer to do this first and had gone into the cornfield in search of a very particular creature.

"_When I give the signal, you open the gate, and then as soon as I get in here with the beast, you close it._" Those were her instructions.

Gloyd wasn't completely sure on how this plan will turn out. It would either turn out really great, completely wrong, or totally boring.

The reason why totally boring was a possibility is because Gloyd, nor has any other racer, ever seen this creature before. It was said to be an obstacle for players to get parts for their kart, but everyone usually keeps their own karts in good shape so not too many bother.

After waiting for five minutes in boredom, he finally heard a loud "Ye-HAH!"

He immediately recovered from his shock and opened the gate. Sure enough, the steps of a horse could he heard coming this direction. When the sound got real close, something jumped right into the fenced area!

It was Apple riding a rabid uni-candy-corn that went wild. She was using black licorice vines as the rein.

Apple hung on to its mane for life, but she looked like she was having the time for her life. She had a huge smile on her face, lifted her hat high up in the air, and shouted "Ye-Hah!"

Gloyd started at her with surprise, but he didn't have time to stare in shock. Apple shouted and reminded him. "Hey, what are you waiting there for, partner? Go and close the gate!"

He didn't need to be told. He hurried to the gate and closed it. As soon as he done he watched Apple as she rode that beast.

Eventually, the un-candy-corn threw her off and on the ground with face first. Then the beast rammed against the fence and broke free without a problem. It then ran off back to the corn fields.

As soon as it was gone, Gloyd came up to his fallen friend. "Hey, are you all right?"

Apple immediately recovered from her attack with a grin on her face. "I just rode Skittle's the monster uni-candy-corn! I had a rocking good time! Now we have him trap in our little ranch…" Then she noticed the huge hole in their fence and her good mood turned to disappointment. "Oh…" She sighed. "I guess Carter was right. It takes more than just a couple of candy bars to hold down a wild beast."

That got Gloyd to ask her something. "So, you and your friends seem pretty close."

Apple responded. "Yeah, I guess you can say that. It's in our programing. We might act different, but are bound together by a common goal."

That got him a little more curious. "What kind of goal?"

Apple bit her lip for a moment before she responded. "I'm afraid that's something I can't tell."

He insisted "You can tell me."

The cowgirl wasn't spill a word. "Sorry, 'fraid I can't say a thing."

"Come on, if it's a secret, I promise I won't tell." He put his hand on her shoulder to reassure her.

She pushed the hand off. "You're right when you said it's a secret, but I'm still not telling."

Gloyd was about to say something to persuade her when images flashed through his head again.

_There stood the familiar view of Sugar Rush, but something was wrong as it started glitching. Then appeared the castle. It seemed to be the source of the disaster because had red pixels and corrupted code come out of it. _

_Then stood a mighty figure that glared down upon everyone. She was truly a frightening figure. Below her were three small figures: Carter, Apple, and some girl Gloyd had never seen. They now seemed different with dark malice…_

The images stopped coming and Gloyd held on to his head as it throbbed in pain.

Apple soon noticed this. "Oi, you okay?"

Gloyd stared at her and then flinched back. However, he quickly collected himself and said "Yeah, I'm fine." He didn't want her to know about his dark image, especially since she was a part of it. He had no idea what it meant, but he now had the feeling that Apple isn't the fun-loving girl he thought he was. He had to be cautious with her for now on…

…He could feel a lump in his stomach. He wanted to trust Apple, he really did, but something didn't feel right.

Fortunately for him, the cowgirl didn't have time to ask him about it as she heard her friends, who weren't far off, just arrived and called out for her.

"Well, if you excuse me, my buds probably want to speak with me for a moment." She left to attend to them.

When she's gone, Gloyd hears a rustling sound coming from the stalks. Cautious that it might be Skittles, he slowly went over there and moved them to find only a familiar cherry racer. "What are you doing here?"

Jubileena nervously thought of an answer. "Uh, no reason. Just passing through here. Clearly not spying on you or anything."

Gloyd gave her an unamused glance.

"Okay, so maybe I was spying a little, but for a good reason! I…" She looked around to make sure Apple was't around. Then she whispered to him. "I don't trust her."

Gloyd recalled his image and shuttered. "I know what you mean…" He silently muttered.

Before the conversation could continued any further, the two notice Apple coming back this way. Jubi hid back into the stalks, and Gloyd collected himself to make it seem like nothing's wrong.

"So, what did your friends want?" He asked when she was in his space again.

"Oh, nothing much." She replied in a casual way. "Although, there is something I would like to ask you."

"And that would be…?"

"Nothing too important." For a moment, her expression had a sly look, but it vanished and she resumes to her cheerful deposition. "So, Rancis and Candlehead; pretty big names around here?"

"Well, yeah, they saved this game."

"Is that so? Well, if you were choose the better of the two, who would it be?"

The question didn't seem suspicious, but Gloyd still wasn't sure about the answer. "I don't really know…"

"Come on, there must be something more special about one of them that out shines the other."

The pumpkin boy gave it a little more thought. "I guess Candlehead's better because she's always so bright and cheerful. Rancis is sometimes strict and a downer."

"You really believe that?"Apple asked in a strange way.

"Sure, I believe that."

Then Apple leaned towards him and said "Then maybe you should stand for that decision no matter what." The way she said it seemed serious and kind of made Gloyd flinched, but she soon soften. "Do you understand?"

The pumpkin boy was silent before answering. "I guess so."

The cowgirl was satisfied with that answer and added "If you are really sure, then maybe you should share it to your friends."

"Why should I?"

"Let's just say it's going to be something special later. Won't you agree, cherry-top?"

Jubileena suddenly screamed as the stalks around her suddenly lifted her up and tossed her into sky. Then one candy root grabbed her by her ankle and brought her down.

Apple gave her a smirk. "Did you really think you could hide from me, red?"

Jubi just glared at her with annoyance. "Oh shut it."


	11. Chapter 10 It Starts With a Spark

It was almost opening time for the arcade, but Vanellope wanted to check on one little thing.

She was waiting in the throne room when Sour Bill arrived. "President Vanellope, the police have brought Crysalia."

It was the news she was hoping for. "Well, bring her in here."

Sour Bill nodded and gave permission for the girl dressed in white to enter the room.

Crysalia only politely bowed down and said "Greetings, my lady, what did you summon me for?"

Vanellope felt uncomfortable at the girl's greeting. "Whoa, first of all you don't need to do all that fancy greeting and stuff. And second, I do need to ask you something."

"What's that?"

"Well, earlier, I did some searching, and I learned something pretty interesting…"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Let's just say you're not exactly being true to yourself, are you?"

Crsyalia perfectly understood what that meant. Fortunately, Canderine and her went over this just in case it happens. "So, you know who I'm really am?"

"Yeah, I know… Ginger Snaps."

Crysalia sighed as her form transformed back to her original shape with her old attire. She looked completely different in the president's view save for the eyes. "This is the real me." The girl known as Ginger explained. "It's who I really am."

"So why ya bother to hide?"

She simply answered "Because I'm not proud of who I am." That was partially the truth. Ginger wasn't proud of herself for two very good reasons… "I know it sounds silly and all…"

However, that was enough for Vanellope; she knew what it was like to hate herself. "No, it's valid." She explained to her. "I understand how you feel. I mean, I probably kicked myself a hundred times in the head back when I was a glitch, but you know what," She put a reassure hand on Ginger's shoulder. "As long as we have our friends, we can appreciate ourselves more."

The warm smile Vanellope gave made Ginger feel a little better, but deep feeling of guilt grew in her heart since she knew what she is going to do. A part of her wanted to tell the truth but she kept her mouth close.

Vanellope could see her face scrunch up with discomfort. The president wanted to talk to her and see if there was anything she could do, but time was running short. "If you want, I'll take you around St. Candy Street before we head for the tree. That's where I go when I want to meet new people."

Ginger did respond at first, but a small smile gradually appeared on her face. "I… I would like that."

Vanellope smiled, seeing that she was opening this girl up a little. "Good. Now, let's get on to the Raceway, the arcade's opening soon." She hurried out the door.

Ginger stayed behind for a while. She was never approached by real kindness before. Canderine was always cold to her while Carter and Apple never gave her the time of day.

She began to wonder if she and her group should really continue with this. Maybe she will speak with Canderine and change her mind…

"Hey, are you coming?" Called out Vanellope.

Ginger looked up and responded. "I'm coming."

* * *

The arcade was minutes from opening, the citizens were cheering, and the racers were ready to go. Everything was set for a beautiful day…

Except there was a foul atmosphere forming between one cupcake and one peanut butter racer. It was making everyone feel uncomfortable.

Vanellope drove and parked her kart at the starting line just in time to sense the bad tension too. "Whoa, what's with the foul mood?" She asked.

The racers turned their heads to imply Rancis and Candlehead, who were looking away from each other with their arms crossed.

The president felt pressured by the sudden tension, but managed to ask "Hey, what's all the fuming about?" She knew when these two fight, it was normally like a brother and sister fight and would go at each other for a while, but this felt more tense.

Candlehead spoke first "Oh, nothing, except for a certain peanut butter cup isn't doing me justice!"

"What does justice have to do with anything?!" Rancis shouted back. "I just think I'm the one who deserves the role."

"Right, like every other role that I never got because you said you deserved it!"

Vanellope got between them before the fight could get any uglier. "Come on, you guys! The arcade is opening soon! We don't want the gamers to feel bad do we?"

That seemed to calm them down, but the tension still remained.

"Look, I thought I told you guys to talk things out."

"We did," Said Candlehead "Now his stupid little ego think he deserves everything!"

"Do not!" Rancis said back. "You're the one who thinking way over her head!"

The situation started to heat up again, but Vanellope immediately stopped it. "Okay… Since you guys obviously fail to sort things out, I'm going to host an election in three days. Then you guys can settle things out."

Fortunately, before anymore harmful words could be said, the first quarter alert of the day happened and everyone had no choice but to get into position.

* * *

The opening hours were no better: Rancis and Candlehead kept on going at each others throats and ramming into each out of the track. It was even worse when the players choose one of them because that just encourages more rivalry.

The players eventually noticed this and stopped choosing either of the two racers and started picking the other racers. However, as if they sensed the tension, they didn't stay for too long.

They started to ignore Sugar Rush and started to play the other games.

Then the arcade closed with the same awful feeling lingering around.

"Nice going, Butterfingers!" Candlehead shouted.

"Hey, I could say the same thing right back, walking cupcake!" Rancis retorted.

The kids once agreed to not call each other by those names anymore. So, this meant that the argument, and their rivalry, grew.

Vanellope had to stopped them one more time.

Canderine watched them argue and a sister smirk appeared on her face. Her little groupie saw them as well.

"I don't get it, Candi." Said Apple "Why ya so interested in fancy political debates all of a sudden?"

"I'm not." She responded. "They just make the perfect distraction."

"Huh?" Asked Carter, puzzled.

"Let's just say, all wars began with a spark." She gave the next orders. "Go have your fun, but remember to hang out with the other racers. In order for this plan to work, we need data of all sorts…"


	12. Chapter 11 The Suspicions Arrise

Swizzle wait at the entrance of the Great Peppermint Tree. He was getting very impatient just standing around, but he was getting more annoyed with Jubileena gripping over and over:

"_Did you really think you could hide from me, red? _I mean, who does that girl think she is?! Clint Eastwood?! I swear, if that girl thinks she can win Gloyd with her little charm, then I'm going to break her in half! Did I tell you about their little playdate?"

"Yes…" Swizzle seethed between his teeth. "For the hundredth time."

"Oh… Well let me tell you about it anyway."

The boy thought he was going to lose this mind, he spotted Snowanna's kart coming this way. Once it parked, the driver came out with an extremely good mood.

However, Swizzle wasn't willing to share the feelings. "Where have you been?"

"Didn't I tell you? I was partying with Carter in the Wheelhouse Club. What are you so grippy about?"

"I'm grippy because you're here an hour earlier than what you promised, and I've been listen to Jubi doing nothing but go on and off about some girl taking away her boyfriend!"

Jubileena's turned red and she stopped complaining once she heard that. "Gloyd and I aren't a couple… yet."

Snowanna's expression turned into one of annoyance. "You haven't been dating in a year now, Malarkey. I'm sure when you find somebody again, you're sure you'll understand."

Swizzle already felt annoyed earlier, but what Snow said just brought the thunder clouds. "Just because you have a boyfriend doesn't mean you can blow us off! You're the one who said we were a _team_."

"Well, maybe I need some time off the team. Is that a problem?"

"It is if you keep hanging around with that punk."

The snow cone girl's eyes slit into glares. "You're a fine one to talk." Then with that, she walked inside the tree.

Jubileena who was silently still gripping, followed after her.

Swizzle huffed in annoyance. Ever since those new racers appeared, the Candy Pack had been falling apart: Snowanna is only interested in Carter, and Jubi had done nothing but complain.

He wished he could do something about this so life could go back to the way it was before.

"Hey, Vanellope!" A voice suddenly called out to him.

Swizzle fell forward in surprise. He turned around to see Gloyd come out from behind the hill.

"Sorry, dude." He said once he noticed the Swizz.

The unicorn pop boy recovered from his fall and said "I'm fine. Just what are you calling Vanny for?"

"Something urgent." Gloyd explained. "She's at the tree for practice, right?"

"Didn't you hear?" Swizzle reminded him. "Vanellope's too preoccupied with the upcoming election. Apparently, she has too much on her agenda now."

"Oh," He replied, looking down at the ground. "Well, she's not the only one…"

"…Is something wrong?"

Gloyd looked at his friend. He might as well explain it to somebody. "Look, I had this vision earlier and…"

As Swizzle heard this, his eyes went wide. "What? Are you sure about that?"

"I haven't been wrong yet. Something extremely bad is going to happen and have a feeling our new racers are in the center of it."

The unicorn pop boy felt uneasy. He had a feeling there was something off about those four (mainly Carter.) Then he remembered something. "Okay, are you really sure about this?"

"I told you, I am."

"No, I mean do you really want to do this."

Gloyd now realized what he means. "That… I'm still thinking, but Apple's a part of the danger, I can't ignore that."

Seeing that he's serious, Swizzle brainstormed for a while and the decided "Look, I don't think Vanny's able to help. So until this so called election blows over, let's see if we can try to find any information to prove this next great disaster is going to happen. No one is going to take us seriously until then."

The pumpkin boy consumed this and said "All right, Swizz, let's see if we can find proof." Truth be told, he wanted to see if his vision really was true because he still refused to believe that Apple is a part of this great disaster. However, he won't know that until he really finds that proof.

* * *

Inside the tree, the tension seemed to be getting worse with a line drawn in half of the tree.

Candlehead taught one side while Rancis taught the other. Sparkle stood at Candlehead's side growling at Rancis every once in a while like a guard dog.

The racers just choose which side they wanted to go although some only stayed for a few minutes and then left because they felt uncomfortable.

Beard Papa stood at the half-way point, not sure what to do not except watch the rift get bigger.

Canderine and her group were at a part of the tree that was further away from the others. She was enjoying what she was seeing.

"See what I mean?" She replied with confidence and satisfaction. "While those fools are busy with their little fight, we can prepare for as long as well like. Which reminds me, how's the data collecting going?"

Carter proudly showed his hard drive. "Almost to the half-way point."

Apple showed hers with pride. "Mine's two percent above that spot."

Canderine turned to Ginger, now in her original form. "And you?"

Ginger looked at her hard drive. "Fifteen percent. After I spoke with Vanellope I talked with a few racers…"

"Finally." Canderine replied, but still talk at her like she was a disappointment.

However, Ginger had something on her mind. "Actually…"

Canderine's eyes glared down. "What?"

"I was thinking this idea of ours isn't such a good idea. These guys aren't as bad than we thought. Also, it's wrong to do this anyway-." She stopped short because Canderine started pulling on her ponytail.

"Don't get all sympathetic and weak. You know what's at stake here."

Ginger whined in pain. "I know, but-."

"If you know then you do what you're told. Any sign of weakness is unnecessary. Do you understand that?"

Ginger slowly nodded her head before Canderine dropped her to the ground.

For the first time ever, Carter and Ginger look just as uncertain and Canderine took notice of this. "What? Are either of you having second thoughts too?"

"No, Candi…" Muttered Apple.

Carter didn't respond but he looked at the ground.

The pack leader didn't look convinced, but she choice to let it go for now. "I'll double check on Turbo and see how he's progressing. You guys just do your part."

* * *

Unbeknownst to Canderine, the recolors weren't far away from they were and they heard everything. They immediately hurried away out of the tree and some where in good distance. before they could get caught.

"Oh my programmer!" exclaimed Nougetsia "Did you guys hear that?!"

"Yeah!" Agreed Torvald "Those guys are up to something!"

"I don't know." Said a reluctant Sticky. "Maybe they're planning something really great like a surprise party."

Torvald didn't agree. "No way, the vibe that was give off is totally not great."

"Girls," Said Critrusella, being a little more calm. "I don't know what's that all about, but I agree with Torvald. "Whatever those new racers are planning can't be good."

"If that's so, someone should tell Vanellope." Said Nougetsia.

"I don't know, she seemed rather conflicted…" Sticky pointed out.

"Well, conflicted or now, she has to hear of this." Declared Critrusella "We're reporting this to Vanellope, right now."


	13. Chapter 12 For the Best

Canderine drove her kart out the black licorice woods and stopped by a small. Like the other kids in this game, driving her kart helps clear her mind. However, she had continuously told herself that she's not like the other kids.

For years she had been dreaming for taking over this pathetic game… and more. Soon, it was finally going to come true. Now if it weren't for a new minor setbacks, then she would be truly in a good mood.

Her cronies are starting to have doubts themselves, and when she checked on Turbo, he told her that he needed a little more time… again.

"He should be grateful that I still need him." She thought bitterly. "As soon as this is done, I'll turn him into code bits."

Then she heard something that sounded like purring. She looked over the hill to see Candlehead all by herself except for her kart and Sparkle.

"It's just not fair…" She told her faithful friend. "Why can't Rancis see that I just want to give it a chance? I want him to see that I really can do this. I'm not just some ditz who can go on fire and has a cool pet Cy-bug. Don't you agree, Sparkle?"

The Cy-bug purred to comfort her. She smiled at his effort, but still felt bad.

"Still, I guess I am being a little selfish by saying I deserve it more than him… Should I just back down?"

"I don't think you should." Canderine spoke up as she walked up to Candlehead.

The cupcake girl turned to see her. "Oh, hi, Canderine right?" She tried to greet her cheerfully.

"That's me." She took a seat next to her.

Sparkle growled at her, but Candlehead put a reassuring hand on him let him know that it's alright.

Sparkle didn't intimidate Canderine one bit. "What's wrong?" She asked like a concern person.

Candlehead sighed as she explained her feelings. "I've been behind Rancis' back for a long as the game was plugged in. I mean, I sort of helped him when we got out powers… but every time it's him first and me next. I think getting this position might earn some respect from him and he'll see that I can be just as good, but the idea of competing against him like this depresses me… Maybe I shouldn't do this…"

"Don't be silly," Canderine spoke to her. "You want to prove you're better than him, right? If you want to do that, then you have to stand up against him."

"B-but that's what's bothering me."

"I'm sure that little bother of yours will go away eventually. Think about it, all of Sugar Rush, cheering for you under Vanellope Von Schweetz's name. The hero who took down the monster, Turbo, and saved everyone. You're the one who deserves the title."

Candlehead's expression became blissful when she heard that. "Yeah, maybe I do deserve…"

"Besides, Rancis stub you down. The only way you're ever going to get respect from him is getting that spot."

Candlehead suddenly remember Rancis saying that he deserves the spot because he's more the one more qualify. Recalling that moment made her code boil. "Yeah, you're right."

"Trust me, cupcake," Canderine whispered into her ear. "You deserve the best."

Pumped up with fury and determination, Candlehead stood up. "Yeah, I do deserve the best! Come on Sparkle! We got an election to prepare for!"

Sparkle seemed taken aback with his master's suddenly change in behavior, but he followed her anyway.

Canderine just smirked.

* * *

Critrusella knocked on the castle door for the tenth time. "Come on, answer already." She was waiting with the other recolors, who were all impatient.

Finally, Sour Bill answered the door. "Yes…?"

"Good evening, Sour Bill." Critrusella said "We need to speak to President Vanellope at once?"

Sour Bill seemed nervous when she asked him that. "I'm afraid the president is busy at the moment."

"Well, can she take a break at least?" Asked Torvald, the toughest out of recolors.

Sour Bill knew better than to say "no" Torvald (especially when she's glaring down at him like that). "I'll check on her."

He hurried to do so.

Vanellope was in her bedroom with her head on the desk since it was hurting so bad. First there were the new mysterious racers, and now she has to deal with this whole new election. It was bad enough doing her original duties as princess-turned-president. Now life became a complete hassle.

So, of course, it didn't help when Sour Bill came and said "The recolors want to talk to you, president Vanellope."

She groaned. "Dismiss them, please."

"With all do respect, president, you need to talk to them."

"I can't, Sour Bill. I've got too much to handle."

"Just talk to them for a while."

"No way, you do it."

"You have to! It's for the good of Sugar Rush."

Something then snapped inside Vanellope. She stood up and said "You know, you keep saying I should do these things and it's for the good of Sugar Rush, but what about what I want. It's because I've been following what you said that my life is becoming a nightmare!"

"Look, I just do what I have to do!" Sour Bill shouted at her. "It's in my programming to serve and suggest whoever is the ruler of Sugar Rush. What more do you want me to do?!"

It startled Vanellope a little because he hardly even raised his voice, but she still held her ground against him. "Look, I've got my own ways to handle Sugar Rush, and I don't need your advice okay?! I only listened to you in the first place because I didn't know what to as leader, but now I can handle it! I don't need your help Sour Bill! I know what's best for the game!" After shouting that, she felt a little calmer and said "Look, just let me lead things for now on, okay?"

Sour Bill wanted to say something back, but what more was there for an assistant to say? So he sighed and went back to the door.

"I'm sorry," He said to the recolors "but president Vanellope can't speak to you right now?"

The girls couldn't believe it.

"What?!" screeched Torvald and Nougetsia at the same time.

"But you gotta," protested Sticky "We have something really urgent to tell her."

"I'm sorry," Sour Bill repeated "but she really doesn't want to speak to anybody."

"Look, gum ball!" Critrusella said, trying not to give in to anger. "What we have if something that will change Sugar Rush. You either let us in or-!"

"I understand!" Sour Bill cut them off, raising his voice. "She's doing all she can, but it's not good enough!" "_I'm not good enough…_" He thought deep down. For a brief moment, he recalled his time when Turbo was leader of Sugar Rush. The guy was a monster, but he would always give Sour Bill some praise even if it was just a simple "well done" and pat on the head.

Vanellope would do that sometimes, but he didn't feel as appreciated as he used to be. He would give out some advice now and then, but usually it would end with Vanellope disregarding that advice or her taking the credit for the idea.

He sighed as he told the girls one last time. "I'll see, if there's anything I could do at all… and then we'll talk." Then he closed the door before the recolors could say anything else.

* * *

On a branch in the Candy Candy Forest, Rancis spoke to someone. "I understand Candlehead wants to try this, but she's always doing something reckless and then ends up getting herself hurt. I always have to watch out for her, make sure she's safe, you know. That's real reason why I should have the Vice President position, to keep her safe from herself. Is that wrong?"

Canderine, who stood on the same branch heard him talk and pretended to care. "So you just want to protect the precious little cupcake? No other reasons? Like a certain vanilla girl?"

Rancis blushed a little at the thought of Vanellope. "Well, maybe also to get close to President Vanellope, but that's another manner…"

"Oh Rancis," She said in the tone she used when she talked to Candlehead. "It's difficult to get people to understand, but sometimes, you got to fight for it if you want those you love to be protected. Remember how you fought against Turbo in order to protect all your friends in Sugar Rush?"

"Yeah."

"Well think of it like that, only, you're protecting Candlehead from herself. Do it for what's best."

Rancis consumed her words, hopped down the tree to solid ground, and went off in determination.

A sinister grin crossed Canderine's face. It looked like things were going smoothly after all


	14. Chapter 13 It's Time

For the next few days, Rancis and Candlehead have been at each others throats at pretty much everything. They were doing whatever they can to ensure they would become vice president: posters, talking to the other racers, trying to get first place at the races etc.

The debates were the worst with the kids shouting and yelling at each other with different arguments. It would get even more violent when their fans got involve. The salt water taffy would fight for Candlehead while the peanut butter cups would fight for Rancis. The fights between them were the worse. Fortunately, the other citizens were uncertain about who's side they're going to take and they mostly left the kids alone

Vanellope couldn't do a thing about it. She stayed in her room in the castle trying to recover from her headache. Sour Bill hasn't said a word to her since their last conversation.

The recolors had tried to get Vanellope's attention, but it was fruitless.

Ralph, Felix, and any other characters outside the arcade were worried about what was going on the racing game, but everyone seemed so distracted and busy that the outer residents didn't bother asking if something was wrong. They heard about the election, but there was no way they were taking part.

The only other ones who were not taking a part were Gloyd and Swizzle, who were trying to figure out any information they could get.

Gloyd tried to get it out by talking to Apple or any of her friends.

Swizzle often snooped around any of the areas the four seemed to be hanging out.

So far, no luck. Until on the night before the election, Gloyd told Swizzle about the Black Licorice Woods. "It's where Apple said she and her friends are living." The boys were at Swizzle's house trying to fit the pieces they have so far.

"You finally managed to get her to tell where they live." Swizzle replied, sounding a little impressed.

"Hey, I'm trying my best. I just don't why it took this long for her to tell me."

"Doesn't matter, while the election is going on tomorrow, we'll find the place, sneak in, and get some real evidence."

As the boys spoke, they didn't know that a certain group heard them… Until they heard what sounded to be like a thump coming from behind the window.

"What was that?" Asked Gloyd.

"I'll go see what it was." Swizzle replied as he went to his door, but rather than opening it, he became translucent and went right through. When he looked towards the direction where the window stood, he saw the recolors with their ears up against the wall, trying to listen in on what their planning.

He called out at them. "Hey!"

The girls fell back in shock. "Y-you saw nothing!" Nougetsia blasted water at him, but that proved to be useless as the water went right through him.

The unicorn pop boy sighed and asked "Would you girls like to come inside?"

The recolors realize they had no choice and went in… Maybe someone will listen to them there.

* * *

"So, where are you taking me?" Asked Snowanna as Carter her guided her while holding her hand.

"We both obviously love dancing right?" He said to her. "So, I thought we could go somewhere special for tonight."

"We can just go to the Wheelhouse Club for that."

"Well, this is special." He took her out to an open area in the middle of the forest. The light seemed placed perfectly, only lighting that spot especially. It was far away from the race track and the homes, making this place perfectly quiet except for the choco-cicadas flying around peacefully.

Snowanna was impressed. "Wow, I must admit, this a pretty nice place."

"Want to know what makes it better?" He held out his hand asking for a dance.

The snow cone girl blushed at his offer, but didn't jumped to it at first. "I-I'm just not sure about dancing in this kind of setting, I mean, there's no music at all."

Carter took her hand. "You don't need music, you just feel it."

Snowanna seemed uncertain, but choose to trust him as the two got into a locked dance position.

At first the two just moved around in a repetition square motion pattern, but after a while, their moves started to become more vibrant. They were soon dancing the waltz to the tango and then what ever motion their body wanted to do. They really didn't need any music, they just moved what their bodies want to.

It wasn't long before Snow started to glow and the wings started to appear from Carter's back. They flew up in the air while still dancing with each other.

The rainbow glow and feathers fall down made the area something out of heaven.

Snowanna looked into his eyes with true admiration. "This is amazing, Carter… I'm really glad you took me out here."

"Yeah…" He said to her with a smile, but something was wrong with his expression. It was like he was afraid…

"Are you okay?" She asked, worried.

"Uh, yeah…" Carter suddenly recalled Canderine and the other's plans and felt extremely guilty. Over the last couple of days, he really had developed his own feelings for Snowanna and the other racers. He still wanted what the plan had promised him, but did he really wanted to do it now. "Snow…" He started to speak. "There's something I want to tell you-."

However, before he could get the chance too, someone called out "Hey, Carter, Candi wants you back home ASP!"

He looked down and saw Apple calling out to him.

Realizing it was time to go, he let go of his date and said "Sorry, I have to go." Then he flew down to rejoin Apple and then they left.

Left alone, Snowanna sighed and flew to sit down at a near-by tree branch. She really did like Carter and what happened earlier was the highlight by far. She hoped he would take him to do something like this again…

* * *

Carter followed Apple as they made their way to their karts. He could shake this heavy feeling in his heart and it weighted him.

Apple could see that and she had a guess on what it was about. "Hey, remember what Canderine said, we can't let these thoughts hold us back."

"I know, but…" He found this easier to say to Apple rather than to Canderine. "Don't you feel any regret about this? These kids, they aren't that bad…"

The cowgirl heard him and shift her hat with discomfort. Truth be told, she enjoyed her time with Gloyd and the other racers too. Like Carter, she was completely on board with their plan when they started, but now it didn't feel right anymore.

She responded "I know how you feel, but we got to do what we must… We wait too long for this and Candi's saying it's about to bare fruit. We have to do it."

"I guess…" Muttered Carter.

The two eventually found their karts, went in them, and drove off to their treehouse in the Black Licorice Woods.

Canderine was inside with Ginger as they stared at Turbo doing the finishing touched on a new hard drive.

"This better be the final product." She warned Turbo.

"Don't worry, this time it will work." He assured her as she handed it to her.

Canderine took it out, grabbed the box, and placed the hard drive on it like last time.

At first nothing happened except for at bright blue glow. Turbo bit his lip in anticipation while the other three just watched. Then a click sound was heard as the glow transformed into a green color, meaning that the code is successful.

Canderine smirk with satisfaction. "Finally, our own working hacker code. Do you guys have your codes?"

Apple replied "We got them alright." She held up a hard drive that said 96%. Carter's was at 95% and Ginger's at 76%.

Canderine look at them for a moment, scorn crossed her face for a while, but it soften. "Well, it's enough anyway."

"So does this mean it's time?" asked Ginger

She nodded. "It's time. While those little crumb snappers are having their election, we're going to the castle. Finally, everything we've been waiting for is going to bare fruit."

Her threesome still felt uncertain, but they decided to just do as their told and go with it.

Turbo seemed happy about it. "Well, now that we've got everything we need, I shall head for the castle with you."

Canderine suddenly turned to him. "Actually, I have something planned for you."

The way she said it suddenly made Turbo very nervous. "What kind of thing…?"

"Oh, nothing, something that you deserve." She took a step closer.

Now with a sinking feeling in his gut, he tried to talk her out of it. "N-now, now, who gave you the code and told you the weaknesses of this game."

"You did." Her face was still hard cold.

"I-I-I thought you said this will be our great conquest."

"I did, but I never said you'll be a part of it."

That was the last thing Turbo remembered before a bright light and then everything seemed completely still.


	15. Chapter 14 Plans are Slowly Revealed

The next day, soon after arcade closed, the racers gathered at an outdoor stage just outside the castle rather than meet for the Random Roaster Race. It was time for the election.

Vanellope told Ralph and their outside the game friends that there wasn't going to be a race and they didn't need to come.

The wrecker showed concern and asked one last time if everything is okay.

Her response: "Look, Stinkbrain, I'm just going through a lot, that's all, but as soon as this is over, I'm sure it's going to work out for the better." The way she said it though seemed depressing.

She was waiting back stage as all the characters gathered… or almost all of them.

Swizzle, Gloyd, and the recolors were heading for Black Licorice Woods. During yesterday, the kids realized that they shared the same suspicions about something very bad is going to happen in Sugar Rush. So, as expected, they decided to team up investigating the woods while the election was going down. The tense atmosphere would be too much for them to handle anyway.

In fact, that atmosphere near the stage was pretty bad. Rancis and Candlehead were backstage, practicing their speeches for the last time. This was the big moment, the time to see which one will be on top.

They gave each other a dirty, competitive and resentful look just before Vanellope stood on the stage and gave the introduction.

"Greetings everyone, welcome to our Vice President election." She announced through the mic; trying to sound like her old spunky self, but anyone can easily tell she wasn't exactly in the right mood for it. "We're here to decide which of our amazing racers shall be the our second in command. First each shall give their own speech, _without any words against each other_, and then you guys must cast your votes. So, let's get started…

* * *

As Vanellope said her introduction, Canderince and her group walked towards the entrance of the castle.

"What did I tell you?" She replied with utter-most confidence. "While they're busy doing their pointless election, we'll start the second great reprogram of Sugar Rush."

"Looks like it's still heavily guarded though." said Carter, pointing out the Oreo guards on front.

"Leave them to me." Canderine replied as she stepped forward.

The guards noticed her coming. "Halt, who goes there?!" They confront her with their spears.

However, the girl only smirked as her hands started to glow…

* * *

In the meantime, the Tongue Twister, Kernel, and four recolor karts headed for the dark forest.

When they got to the boarder, they stopped for a moment because they had never been inside before. Back when Turbo ruled over Sugar Rush, he had forbid anyone from visiting those woods since he claimed they are too dangerous, which was good enough for anyone since the Black Licorice Woods was never the most appealing place to begin with. Even after Vanellope regain her place as ruler and allowed the racers to go as they pleased, they still avoid the forest.

Now, these kids have a very good reason to enter, but they still weren't certain about what will happen if they went in there. However, they knew they couldn't just stand around, so with a deep breath, they went into the woods.

Despite it being day time in Sugar Rush, the kids were going through almost complete darkness and only had their headlights to guide them.

However, despite the darkness and the large area to cover, it didn't take too long for them to find the treehouse, which only had an eerie blue light coming from it.

The karts parked near the building before the drivers stepped out.

"It doesn't appeared they're home." Assumed Swizzle, looking up at the tree.

"How do you know that?" asked Sticky nervously.

"There's no sound."

"They might be sleeping." Pointed out Critrusella

Swizzle rolled his eyes. "Look, I'll check it out and to make sure." He started to climb up the later. When he got to the top, he made his head to his shoulders transparent and looked through.

He examined the entire interior. It appeared to be empty. He called back to Gloyd and the girls. "Told ya, there's no one inside-. Oh my programmer!" He suddenly fell back and became fully visible.

"What is it?" asked Nougetsia.

"I-I thought I saw Turbo!"

"What?!" The recolors screamed.

"That's impossible!" Gloyd pointed out "Turbo died after being burned to death by the boiling hot soda water!"

"I know!" exclaimed Swizzle "But I saw him inside!"

"What's he doing there?" asked Torvald.

"Only one way to find out." The Swizz climbed back up and looked through again; this time, he more cautiously.

When he saw Turbo, he flinched a little, but soon realized something. The grey face racer wasn't moving at all.

He called back to the others. "Hey, you guys, I think it's okay… He's frozen."

"Frozen?" questioned Torvald

"Come in and see." With that, the Swizz went inside, and the others carefully followed after him.

Their first reaction was a scream and fall back in fear when the others saw Turbo, but they soon saw what Swizzle was talking about.

The racer they all knew as a monster was frozen in a rectangular cube surrounding him. The gruesome expression of his face showed disbelief and fear. The way he was now, it didn't look like he would be doing anything.

"Whoa…" Said Gloyd, examining him. "He's like one of those cavemen trapped inside an ice cube."

Critrusella looked around the place and notices several written plans on the wall and desk. "What's this?" She picked it up and examined it. "It looks like different layouts of the castle."

"That's nothing, check this out." Torvald was looking at a bunch of computer screens. When Sticky came by her side, she asked "What's with all the numbers?"

Her golden recolor sister shrugged. "Beats me."

Nougetsia picked up a worn out notebook and started reading it for any clues. "Let's see… Day 3 on the Month of X, Year 1: We're finally free from that cage. For a creep, Turbo sure did a good job of isolating us for years. However, thanks to the game's reset, we're broke free. It appears the changes Turbo had done to this game had failed miserably and he's now back to square one. I could kill him now for betraying us, but I have plans for him…"

"Day 5 of Month X, Year 2: It's been a year now since we became free from our code prison. Since then, we've just been exploring around Sugar Rush while trying to find any information we can about holograms and reprogramming. Actually, truth be told, Turbo is the one finding most of our research while we look around Sugar Rush. Even with the reset, nothing's really changed. That's good news for me since I don't really want too much of a change…"

"Day 10 of Month X, Year 2: It turns out in order for holograms to work, they need some sort of data. This is frustration since we don't have much data on the other racers, and the only way we can get it is by actually communicating and talking to them. Apple and Carter are actually quite excited about that while Ginger as usual seems uncertain about it. As for me, if this is needed then we don't have much of a choice. I just hope no one will catch on…"

"Day 14 of Month X, Year 2: The plan actually has been going smoothly. No one is suspecting a thing and we're collecting more data then we should. However, I can sense Ginger and the others are having second thoughts. It appears they have become quite attached to some of the racers and are enjoying their new pathetic open lives. Don't they understand that the greater benefit is when we finally take over the game? Also, there's a matter of Turbo holding us back if he doesn't get that hacker code done in time. If all these things keep getting in our way, I swear…"

Critrusella stopped the reading there. "Hold on, take over the game?A"

"Oh my programmer!" gasped Sticky.

"I knew there was something weird about those guys!" Added Torvald.

Gloyd and Swizzle were speechless with what they just heard. While Swizzle was trying to take in the shock of it. Gloyd just couldn't believe his new special friend was hiding something this big all this time.

However, there was no time for comfort or to take it all in when Nougetsia read the next entry.

"Day 17 of Month X, Year 2: Today's the day when we finally began the takeover. Now that we have function hacking code, we can break into the code room. While those stupid little avatars and NPCs have their stupid little election, we'll make our move…"

* * *

Back at the castle, all the guards who stood at the front of the castle, collapse in defeat. Their bodies were glitching in bright red codes.

Canderine stopped glowing with a sinister grin.

"Yow, Candi…" Said Apple. "Think you could've been a little softer on them?"

"Oh, Apple," Said said back. "Like I would actually care about that. It doesn't matter anyway. They'll be back up soon."

"After a full twenty-four hours with no memory…" muttered Carter.

Canderine disregard that and lead the way inside, into the throne room, and behind the curtain. They knew where this will lead them. "This is it, what we've all been waiting for."

However, she could sense that her comrades were less than thrilled about this and she sensed it. She turned around with glaring eyes, demanding "Well?" As if she was expecting some excitement.

Apple started first. "Look, Canderine, I was pretty excited when this whole take over the game thing started, but now I'm not so sure."

"Yeah," Carter explained "Now that we've gotten to know the racers and discover that there are better things to do than wish for some stupid revenge, the whole idea seems… kind of worthless and… mean."

Canderine heard this with a blank expression…

"Can we just let this go?" Asked Ginger. "I know what we've been tossed aside and forgotten like we're nothing, but revenge just isn't worth it! So, let's just get used to this life and live happily okay?"

At first, there didn't seem to be any reaction coming from their leader, then Canderine stomped her foot and an aura pushed the four kids back. Her face was full of anger, disappointment and bitterness. "What did I tell you guys? _Don't be soft_. We've waited far too long for this! Think about all we've been through. Think about how the programmers were planning to toss us aside like a couple of useless drafts and how the racers never knew about us. Think about all the times we wished we could rise up and take them all down!" She turned to the doorway locking out the most important room. "And today the day's we do that! If you guys aren't willing to accept that anymore, then I'll do it on my own!"

She took out the hard drive and placed it against the door.

* * *

"All right, people, you've heard their speeches." Said Vanellope, trying not pay attention to the police holding the two kids (and the giant Cy-bug) back from killing each other. "Now if you can just-."

Suddenly she sensed something wrong. It was as if a bomb or something got set off somewhere in the castle.

"Hey, can we get this over with?!" Shouted an annoyed Candy Citizen, bringing her back to reality.

"O-okay, if everyone can just place, their votes, then we can end this soon." However, the nagging feeling that something wrong is going to happen continued to bother her.


	16. Chapter 15 Change in Code

At the metal hallway, Canderine stood in front of destroyed doorway that once sealed away complete darkness with code boxes floating around. "At last," She declared with triumph "The code room, the mother board of the entire game." She jumped up into the room.

When Ginger and the others recover from their attack, they hurried to just the edge of the room and could only watch as Canderine came up to the different codes.

"All right, first thing's first… Insert the new code…"

* * *

After the last vote was cast, Vanellope gave the coves to the marshmallow assistants who tallied up the votes.

She and everyone waited impatiently until a marshmallow came up with an envelope containing the big answer. "All right everyone, this is it." The president announced to the crowd. "The one with the most votes becomes our Vice President. Are both sides cool with that?"

Rancis and Candlehead were glaring at each other with the police from both sides trying to hold them (as well as Sparkle) back from killing each other.

Rancis grumbled "That's just fine."

Candlehead declared "Go on, tell them that I won!"

It looked like things were about to get ugly again, so Vanellope had to do this quickly. "All right, so the winner is-." She was about to open the envelope when the ground started to shake.

She wondered what the heck that was when the citizens began to panic, pointing up at the sky for it was glitching.

"What the-?!" Vanellope exclaimed. She looked back at the direction of the castle. She knew there was something wrong as she dropped the envelope and ran inside as quick as she could.

The citizens were in a panic and the police were trying to calm them down, but the racers, Cy-bugs, and Sour Bill knew something was wrong and they followed after their president.

* * *

"Come on, we got to hurry!" Shouted Critrusella as she, the other recolors and the boys drove as quick as they could.

"I can't believe they've been planning this for years and no one had even noticed." said Sticky, bothered by this.

Gloyd had the same bothered expression as him.

Swizzle could see that and told his friend "Look, I know you didn't want to believe Apple and her friends were really planning this big awful thing, but we now have real hard proof about it and that can't be denied."

"That's not what's bothering me." He responded, half-lying. "What's really bothering me is that we decided to let _him_ out."

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" Turbo repeated over again as he hugged Trovald, who groaned in annoyance.

Despite the detestable things Turbo had done in the past, they (in particular, Sticky and Critrusella) didn't think it was right to leave him in that frozen cage. They figured if there was anyone who knew what was going on, it would be him. So after some arguing and pondering, they decided to let him out.

After they freed him, he gratefully thank them and then told them everything he knew. When the kids heard the story, their eyes lit up with horror and they realized someone needs to stop those "new racers" from accomplishing their plan.

However, they might be too late as they notice the sky glitch.

"The sky!" Exclaimed Nougetsia "They must be at the code room now!"

Swizzle shouted "We need to hurry!" And the kids pressed the pedals to head for the castle as quickly as she could.

* * *

Canderine hummed a tune as she inserted a new piece of code into the system. There wasn't a label on it yet, but it was clear that it was foreign to the game.

"Now that I have created a new code, time to take out the old one." She went up to the box that said "racers."

The other three could only stand back and watch at first until they head someone enter the hall.

"What are you guys doing here?!" Somebody shouted. They turned around to see Vanellope enter with Sour Bill behind her.

"Sorry, Prez." Apple muttered and unleashed a swarm of candy plant roots against them. They wrapped around them as tight as they could, not letting them go.

The majority of racers soon entered to see what's happening.

"What the-?!" exclaimed Taffyta "What's going on?!"

Snowanna took good notice of one person guarding the way. "Carter?!"

A pained look flashed the boy's eye. "Sorry, Snow, we've been waiting far too long for this." With a movement of his wing, arrow feathers came out and attacked the group. The kids didn't go any further than where the feathers had landed, but some didn't stop there.

Rancis focused on the feathers and directed them against the group.

Apple created a giant vine root to blockade them, but as soon as she accomplished that, fire suddenly burned the vine away.

When it was gone, Apple got kicked in face when Carter was met with a fist. They were both knocked out immediately.

"Don't try to take my spotlight." Candlehead sternly said to the peanut butter boy. "I'm going to the hero here."

"That's my line!" Rancis exclaimed as he headed forward.

The two kids raced towards the code room, but were immediately blocked by Ginger, who was now wielding a sword. She fended the two right off.

"Whoa, when since did we get someone a sword?" asked Candlehead.

But Ginger didn't respond and just stared down like a guard.

Well, there was no way they could get to the code room with her in the path.

Rancis first tried to get rid of her sword, but she shape shifted into him and copied his telekinetic to push him back.

Candlehead attacked next with herself on fire. At first, Ginger transformed into her and the girls attacked fire to fire. Then she unexpectedly transformed into Nougetsia and used water to quench the flame.

The kids fall back for a while; although they weren't about to give up, and they stood up to face her again. However it's clear that the two were in sync as they just followed their own path of attack without saying a word to each other.

While this was happening, Vanellope glitched out of the vine's grip and into the code room. She tried to keep her balance up as she navigated through the black space and up to where she could see the sparks of code changing

There she saw Canderine doing something to the racer's code and shouted angrily "Hey! What do you think you're doing-!?"

Suddenly was interrupted by the old familiar feeling of her code falling apart. Her image was glitching once again!

This time, she wasn't alone. The other racers (save for the four troublemakers) were glitching. They were confused with what was happening to them.

Vanellope looked back up at Canderine who appeared to have finished what she was doing and evilly smirked. "Oh, hello there, president." She taunted "I didn't realize you entered. Well, whatever you're here for, you're too late now."

"What are you doing to Sugar Rush, you jerkbreaker?!" Vanellope threatened, but Canderine only responded with a chuckle.

"Oh, Vanellope, I'm just improving the game a little."

Suddenly, Canderine's code box came into view. The last time Vanellope saw it, it only had her first name appeared, but now there was something else…

The code box glitched for a while until new words were added and it said this:

Canderine Von Schweetz.


	17. Chapter 16 Canderine's Plot

Vanellope's eyes went wide when she saw the box. "V-V-Von Schweetz…? You're my-?"

"Surprise," Canderine said with an evil smirk. "Aren't you glad to see your long lost _big _sister?"

"B-b-b-big sister?!"

"That's right!" Canderine kicked Vanellope in the stomach. "Once, the programmers were going to make _me _leader of Sugar Rush, but as the game slowly developed, they attempted to delete me because I was considered too powerful and instead created _you_!" When she that last word, she smacked Vanellope in the face. "However, I survived through a sheer force of will and ended up in the program anyway. When I realized what had happened, my heart cracked in bitterness, and I vowed revenge on all who've wronged me!

"I later learned I wasn't the only one the programmers attempted to remove. I meet Carter, Apple, and Ginger, three suppose-to-be-racers who suffered the same fate as me. So we decided to work together and take back our place in the game. Back then, we weren't certain about rearranging the code because we didn't know what would happen if we tried. Would the code system just willingly let us do our reprogramming, or will it retaliate and turn us into code bits? So, we left our game to find someone test it out for us."

Vanellope knew where this was going. "Turbo…"

"That's right! He was full of resentment and jealousy after his old game went down. When we told him there was a way he can get all his glory back, he happily accepted the offer. The original plan was for him to follow our instructions and we would see what happens, but he had plans of his own. He imprisoned us into a code prison and took over Sugar Rush on his own.

"There we were, frozen in time; and with no way out. We probably would've stayed like that forever if it weren't the game's restart. We were free to continue on with our plans. We knew after the restart, the code room's security will change and become more resistant to any troublemaking codes. So, we hatched a new plan…"

* * *

Swizzle, Gloyd, and the recolors (and Turbo) parked in front of the castle. By now, the kids images were flickering and glitching just like the rest.

"My word," said Turbo, trying to sound worried. "Is there anything I can-."

"We don't need _your_ help!" Retorted Trovald.

"Humph!" Now Turbo sounded offended. "I was only trying to be nice."

Nougetsia rolled her eyes. "Why would those guy revive you from the dead, I'll never know."

* * *

"If you want to know something, Sugar Rush isn't the only game Turbo tried to tamper with the code." Canderine continued "There had been other games he tried to take over, but not successfully. I guess we gave him a few tips on how to take over this, but his continuous hacking of other games had made him a bit of an expert. So, we had revived him and had him create our own hacker code.

"He told us it might take a while, so we had no choice but to wait while he tried to create the perfect hacker. All we could do was watch as you guys as you continue with you happy pathetic lives. Truly, it was sickening…"

Vanellope could see the anger and hate scrunch up in Canderine's face as she explained her story. She shouted at her while trying to ignore her flickering image. "If you guys hate us so much, then why did you come out to greet us?!"

"Because we need to collect data to create this." The code she inserted floated up and on it said "Hologram Racers." "The data we collect was used to create similar versions of you racers. They'll take your place in the racers for now on."

* * *

Back at the group that was still trying to fight Canderine's groupie, everyone was still shocked at the fact they were glitching, but that doesn't stop them from trying to take this blockade down.

Suddenly the opposing side had bits of different colored pixels floating around… At first none could make sense on what they are, but then they soon took the form of what they least expected, the racers.

"What the-?!" Exclaimed Minty

"Who the heck are there cheap copies?" Said Taffyta, who felt both shocked and disgusted looking at them.

The holograms didn't respond and instead came closer to the original racers, who were all freaked out.

"Wh-what's with these guys?" Asked Adorabeezle as she backed away.

* * *

"Hold on, take our place?!" Vanellope cried in total disbelief.

"Yes," Canderine responded "but don't worry. You guys will live, but not as yourselves nor as glitches. Indeed, I'm turning you all into something much worse."

"What can be worse than a-!" Suddenly, Vanellope recalled the vicious machine bugs that once attacked Sugar Rush (with the exception of Sparkle). "Viruses…"

"BINGO!" Shouted Canderine as kicked Vanellope again. "I know what you're thinking, why go through the bother? Well, it's all worth it when _revenge_ goes through your head, it's worth it!"

The glitch girl glared at her so-called-sister. "Is revenge really all that you think about?!"

She glared down darkly at her as her hands start to glow. "It's my only reason for living."

* * *

Swizzle and the other arrived in the throne room just in time to see an explosion of bright light and everyone, including Canderine's group.

"Oh my programmer!" exclaimed Critrusella "Is everyone all right?!"

"What do you think?" Sputtered Jubileena.

Then Canderine came into the throne room, pulling Vanellope by her ponytail, and with the holograms following her out. She smiled like an evil queen. "There's been some change in Sugar Rush, and with me in the top."

Apple coughed with annoyance as she tried to stand up. "You think you could've been a little softer with that blast?"

"A few sacrifices are needed to reach the prize." Canderine replied as she looked at the crowd of astonished and upset kids. She noticed Turbo in the crowd and glared.

Turbo flinched when he noticed her. "Ah, Ms. Canderine, I see everything is working out for you."

While some are concern about Turbo, some only focused on the kids they throughout what they were their friends.

"C-Carter…" Snowanna's voice filled with heartache.

The guy's face filled with shame as he looked away from her.

Gloyd stared at Apple with an intense look.

Apple shuffled her hat at his gaze. "You knew?"

"I had a feeling." He responded "But I didn't want to believe it."

"I knew there was something wrong with you!" Jubileena shouted angrily at the cowgirl.

Ginger looked at Apple and Carter and could see the guilt in their eyes. She knew how they were feeling. They really thought they had a place here and they just gave it all up for the sake of power. Although, now, there was nothing they could do to say they're sorry.

Canderine's face was the only one who didn't show any pity. She looked rather pleased to see the racers in their demise. She held Vanellope up like a prize she just conquered. "Your leader has fallen, and now a new one must rise… and who better than for it to be me!"

"No way!" Shouted Crumbelina.

"We would never accept you as our president!" Agreed Minty

"President?" Canderine scoffed "Who said we were going to run things by democracy? The game was intended to be monarchy and is gonna stay that way, with me as your _queen_!"

"Queen?!" The kids exclaimed in horror.

"That's right, and my first order of business is to lock this sorry excuse of a leader into the fun dungeon!" She tossed her into the hands of an Oreo guard, who already seems to recognize her as the new lead and takes Vanellope away.

"And take away that failure of a racer and that sour butler too! I have no use for them!"

On that cue, the Oreo Guards grab Sour Bill and Turbo and guided them away.

While Sour Bill was in too much of a shock to do anything, Turbo protested "You can't do this to me! I'm Turbo! I helped you guys take over this game! I deserve more respect!" However, no one paid attention him as they were taken away.

"And now for you Viruses." Canderine turned to them. "I have a special plan, and that's to send you deep within the candy cane forest, banished for life!"

"You can't do that!" Cried Candlehead "We didn't do anything wrong!"

"Not according to me."

Not willing to lose to this huge jerkbreaker, Rancis used his telekinetic to push the group back against the wall. It only worked on Apple, Carter, and Ginger. The holograms and Canderine still stood like nothing happened.

"Oh please," Canderine stepped forward, unimpressed. "let me show you what real power is." She lifted her hand and flickered him in the forehead.

This shockingly pushed Rancis back towards the wall and the other racers get pushed, swept away by the impact.

"Sparkle!" Candlehead cried out, and her pet Cy-bug came through the ceiling for the attack.

However, with one movement of her hand, Canderine pushed Sparkle against wall extremely hard! The mighty Cy-bug collapsed against ground as its form start glitching.

Candlehead gasped in horror. "Sparkle!"

Canderine smirked with confidence as the racers looked up to her, horrified. Just what kind of monster is she anyway?! However, none of them were given the time to think about it, when she said "I think you know by now that I'm far more superior than any of you. You better do as I say or you're queen will have to do it herself." She glared down. "Now leave."

The kids didn't need to be told, this was way out of their league. They all scream and ran out of the castle as fast as they could. Candlehead showed concern about leaving her precious Sparkle behind, but there was very little choice so all she could do was run.

They ran out of the castle and as far away as they could…

Inside, Canderine laughed with triumphal; this was better than she thought…

* * *

**AN: Looks like things are taking a turn for the worse... What will the racers do now?**


	18. Chapter 17 Fight or Run

The kids ran as far away from the castle as much as their legs could take them and deep into the Candy Cane Woods. Canderine probably had guards already around the Great Peppermint Tree so hiding out there wasn't an option.

Instead, they stopped somewhere that was both far away from the castle and the tree. Once they thought they were safe, they stopped running and rested. They were still in a disbelief of what happened as their virus forms flicked.

"This is officially the worst day of my life…" Muttered Crumbelina.

"Now what do we do?" Asked Adorabeezle.

The racers were at a loss when she asked that. They wanted to get their home back, but they knew what they were up against. Canderine is way too powerful for them to face and there's no telling what she has planned for them the next time. Some started to cry, believing the battle was already lost.

However, some were about to give up. Rancis stood up and thought about Vanellope's cute face, and then declared "Well, there's no way I'm going to let it end like this."

"Huh?" asked Sticky as she cried her eyes out.

Rancis stood on the jawbreaker he was resting on earlier. "What I'm saying is that we can't give up! Sure we just ran away earlier, but that's because we didn't know what we were going up against. However, there's always a way to beat the next boss!"

"What are you saying?" Asked Crumbelina as she and the other now viruses looked up.

"Look, we might be glitches, viruses, or whatever, but I know we can win. I mean…" Then with his mind, he lifted a different jawbreaker up and tossed it, it when through the forest, smashing any tree that got in its way, and when it stopped, the kids could hear the crack the candy made.

"We still have our powers." Rancis pointed out. "I know we can do it if we work together! Come on, we can take our game back!"

The racers looked at each other; suddenly hope filling their eyes… but not all of them were convinced.

"Are you kidding me!" Shouted Candlehead as she jumped on another gumdrop. "Don't tell you just brushed off that giant blast. She could've killed us! And you say we have a chance?!"

"We still do!" He insisted "If we planned tout carefully, we can beat them!"

"Yeah right! Did you see what happened to my poor little Sparkle…?" She started to tear up a little as the events of earlier repeat through her head. She didn't want to go through that ever again. As she dried her tears, she continue to shout at Rancis. "There's no way I'm fighting something like that! You have to be insane to do so!"

"I'm not insane! I'm just trying to build up hope!"

"By getting us killed?! We got to protect ourselves while they're still free!"

"And what about those who aren't free?! Like Vanellope! She's trapped in there with jerk and her sour butler! I'm not leaving her there!"

"So that's it, you just want to save your girlfriend?"

Rancis' face turned red. "She's not my girlfriend!"

"Whatever, I'm not going to join your pointless little battle! I'm going where I know we can be safe, outside the game!"

Everyone gasped with their eyes wide. "Are you serious?" asked Trovald.

"Well, yeah, glitches might not be able to leave their game, but Viruses can."

"But if you're a Virus, you'll be feared." Pointed out Nougetsia. Viruses had a very bad reputation throughout the arcade.

"I have friend who can help me. Accepted out there or not, I'm not saying here." With that she jumped out off the gumdrop and made her way towards the exit.

Rancis frowned "Go ahead and leave like coward that just proves I would make a better vice president than you!"

Candlehead stopped in her tracks and shouted back in tears. "Well then you can just die here like an idiot! _That _proves I'm better for that position any day!" After she declared that, she turned to the other racers. "Anyone who wants to follow me is welcome."

At first, nobody said anything as if they didn't wanted to choose sides. Then Snowanna spoke up "I'll go with you, Candle." That took everyone by surprise, but she explained "I don't want to lose my game to some jerk either, but I don't want to stay… if it means bumping into Carter again…" When she mentioned his name, she started to tear up again. Her expression looked like she lost something very special.

Jubileena came to her side. "If you're leaving then I'm coming with you."

"Me too." Agreed Swizzle "The Candy Pack sticks together."

"I'm coming too." Said Sticky "I-I'm too scared on what will happen if I stay."

"Me too." Agreed Critrusella.

Torvald couldn't believe what fellow recolors are saying. "Are you fudging serious?! You two are going to run away and let our game be taken over by some monster?! Well I'm not!"

"Neither am I!" Said Nougetsia.

Gloyd gave the situation some thought and stated "Well, you guys go head and fight, I'm going with Candlehead… My ability's no use on something like this."

"That's not true." Said Crumbelina. "You sight, it can…" She paused a moment, trying to think of something. "You can predict where the enemy can strike next and-."

"Don't try and make me feel better." He only glumly replied "I don't even know when they're going to appear or what they mean. I couldn't even tell you about this…"

"Wait you saw this coming?!" exclaimed Taffyta

Gloyd bit his lip, ashamed he didn't speak up. "I had a image that this might have happened… but I didn't want to believe it…"

Snowanna looked at him, understanding the feeling, but it was Jubileena who gave him a comforting hug and said "It's okay… I knew she wasn't right anyway…"

After that moment, Taffyta spoke up with her eyes glowing with fury. "Well I'm not going to run away like a big baby!"

"Me neither!" Added Crumbelina "Sugar Rush is our home!"

"Yeah!" Shouted Adorabeezle "I'm not giving up!"

Minty and the other two recolors shouted with agreement.

Rancis smiled, seeing the people on his side. "Together we're going to take back Sugar Rush!" He turned to Candlehead with a confident look, but she wasn't amused.

"You go ahead and get yourselves killed." She huffed. "We're leaving…" She started her way towards the exit with her group following her.

* * *

**AN: So there you have it folks, Sugar Rush, taken over and our heroes divided into two. However, don't worry for this is not the end. Here's a list so you can keep track on who's staying and who's leaving?**

**Those who are staying- Rancis, Taffyta, Crumbelina, Adorabeezle, Minty, Nougetsia, Trovald.**

**Those who are leaving- Candlehead, Snowanna, Jubileena, Swizzle, Gloyd, Critrusella, Sticky.**

**And while we're at it, for those with Sugar Rush OCs, would _your _charter run or fight in this situation?**


	19. Chapter 18 What Will Happen Now?

Canderine smiled as she looked down upon the tied up Beard Papa. "Your pathetic friends have failed and now I'm in charge." She told him with pride. "I knew you were going to ask questions at some point, so that's why I brought you here."

The old man glared at her. He could jumped up and attack her if he wished but unfortunately, Apple's licorice vine was holding him tight. "You think you can get away get away with kidnapping me while I take my daily nap?!"

"We just did." She replied as she looked down upon him. "We're throwing you into the fungeon along with the other pathetic failures. That is all." With that the solider dragged Beard Papa who shouted even more.

"You won't get away with this! Rancis, Candlehead, and the other kids will take care of you and you'll regret it! You'll see!" His shouts became softer the further he was dragged away.

"For an old man, he's quite a talker." Said Apple.

"And he'll be talking more after we're done with phase two." Added Canderine

"Phase two? I thought the goal was to take over Sugar Rush." Questioned Ginger. Apple and Carter looked just as puzzled.

"Oh please," The queen replied "This is just a part of what I want. My true desire is something bigger."

Suddenly Wynchell and Duncan entered. Their codes (as well as all the NPCs in Sugar Rush, save Sour Bill) had been completely rearranged and now only recognize Canderine as their leader and the holograms as the racers.

"Your highness," Duncan stated "Our security cameras have could some of the viruses are leaving the game."

"Let them…" Canderine replied. "It's not like they're going to get help."

"What if they do?" Asked Carter, recalling that Turbo mentioned they had the help of a giant outside of the game.

"Don't worry about that." She assured him as she took out a different hard drive from her pocket. "I had Turbo create another code during his spare time. It's going to keep out any unwanted intruders. In fact, I'm going to put it in right now." As she walked towards the code room, she ordered "Get the holograms ready, the arcade's opening soon."

Her so call friends looked at one another as she left. Like what she promised, she had made them leaders of Sugar Rush. They were on top of the pyramid now, but somehow, being on top didn't seem right… They weren't even sure if they could trust Canderine anymore. Now that they got to know _real _friendship, she does seem rather cruel and cold. However, they knew there was nothing they can do now. They just threw away that friendship and are now stuck being label as jerks… If they had the chance to change their minds, they would…

Canderine, on the other hand, was pleased with what has happened. She was now where she where she's supposed to be. However, this only filled in a drop of her cup of desire for revenge. There was something more she wanted… something bigger…

* * *

Meanwhile, Vanellope and Sour Bill hung side by side in misery in the Fungeon with glitch proof chains. They were dead silent and the place could've had nothing but that if it weren't for a certain gray racer shouting in anger from the top of his voice.

"She can't do this to me!" Turbo ranted over and over. "I'm Turbo! I don't deserve this! I mean, sure I've done some… unnecessary things, but I don't deserve this at all! That no good for nothing little girl! A queen? Bah! Just you wait, Canderine! When I get out of here, I'll smack you so hard, you'll never be able to say Turbo-tastic ever again!"

Vanellope and Sour Bill were already depressed from earlier, and this guy's shouting wasn't really helping. It was even worst when the guards brought in the body of the nearly dead Sparkle.

"Leave it with them." They heard what sounded like to be Carter. "It's not going to live much longer anyway."

After moment of sadness and silence, Sour Bill spoke up "I'm… I'm sorry…"

Vanellope lifted her head. She and her butler haven't said a word to each other since their argument. It felt awkward to respond, but she had to. "What are you talking about?"

Bill sighed as he took a deep breath and then explained "I… I gave you my advice and… and because of that, we let Canderine get away with all this." That was true in some ways since he was the one who suggested only one vice president, leading up to everyone getting distracted by the election. "You were right when you said I should let you do it on your own. I… I might not look like it, but I actually like giving out advice; especially to important people like you…"

Vanellope turned her head to her butler. She had never seen Sour Bill so opened before.

Sour Bill didn't seem happy to explain though as he sighed again. "I know it sounds stupid-."

"No," Vanellope interrupted him. "It's not stupid at all. You were just trying to do what gave you purpose. You were doing what you what you thought was best… What happened the other day, I was just stressed because of everything that has happened…" Now it was her turn to sigh as she admit "You… are the greatest assistant a president or princess could ask for… Sure, we ended up getting defeated and imprisoned, but it's not your fault. It's not."

Sour Bill turned to her. That was probably the best thing he had ever heard coming from her, and it was more meaningful than what Turbo would ever say.

He was thinking about what to respond to her when the prison door opened. The guards brought in a struggling old man who was shouting just as loud as Turbo.

"You'll see! Rancis and Candlehead will find a way and stop this madness!"

One of the guards scoffed. "Yeah right. A couple of Viruses won't last long anyway." With that, the guard laugh and left the room.

"They'll find a way!" Beard Papa shouted "I know they will!" However, he soon sighed when he realize the guards won't listen to him, meaning he wasn't sure about what he said.

Then Vanellope spoke up. "Don't worry. I think so too…" That was all she could say to comfort the old man.

Beard Papa admired her effort, but he could see the light. "I hope you're right, Vanellope… I hope you're right…"

* * *

At the exit, Candlehead and her group made it to the exit. At first, no one was certain about exiting the gate, but Candlehead walked through without a problem, showing viruses really can pass through.

The others soon followed, but uncertain about where this will go.

Swizzle finally asked "So… What are we when we reach Game Central Station."

Candlehead responded "We'll head for Fix-it Felix Jr. I'm sure they have a place for us to stay…" She couldn't keep the sadness out of her voice. Most of kids knew what the cause of the misery about: Rancis. She really hoped they would see eye to eye for once, but now, they were completely apart.

Unfortunately, there was nothing anyone could say at this point to make her feel better.

Gloyd was still a little bummed out with Apple and what happened when his touched his hand against the wall of exit. Suddenly, his head started to throb and he could only see darkness, but he could hear voices…

_The first voice spoke "This is a great game you got here, Litwack, and made just recently too. You're very lucky to get it."_

_Litwack's voice proudly responded. "Well, of course, with all the kids coming in with candy craze, it's only natural I give them what they want."_

_"__Well they're going to like this game. Shall you do the honors?"_

_"__I shall."_

_Next, came a flash of light and a ton of numbers appear in the sky. Then the numbers faded and pixels spread forming the land of Sugar Rush…_

Back in the present, Gloyd held on to held and nearly fell back.

"Gloyd?" Jubileena came up to him in concern "Are you okay?"

The pumpkin boy shook it off and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine…" The only time he recalled when that happened was back at the Great Peppermint Tree. This time he went _really _further back in the past.

"Better get control of that…" He thought to himself. "Or I might end up in a coma…"

* * *

Deep within the forest, Rancis could see the castle in the distance.

It had been a while since he find himself fighting for himself. The last time was just last year when Turbo turned him and Candlehead into outcasts because of their powers. However, together with Wreck-it Ralph and Vanellope, they were able to save their game and prove they are no different than anyone else.

Now, he was going to fight for the game again… only this time, Candlehead wasn't by this side. He frowned at the thought, he thought she would finally agree with her when it comes to their game. Instead… she choose to go even further from him…

"Hey, Rancis!" Called out Taffyta "So what are we going to do?"

He looked down to see the ones on his side. A small smile appeared on his face. He was going to get their game back, with or without Candlehead. He rejoined them and said "All right, here's what I think we need to do first…"

* * *

**AN: Will the little resistance prevail? How will the runaways survive the outside world? Will the prisoners find their own way out? And what further more is Canderine planning?**

**Unfortunately, this is where part one ends. To find out more, wait for Part 2. (I might get more motivated if I get more reviews). Until then, it's so long for now. I do not own Wreck it Ralph.**


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